Ghost Guardian
by Quick-Demon
Summary: In and out of foster homes Daniel Jackson comes to live with the Fentons when he was 14. Tensions between Danny & Daniel escalate but when Danny gets sick Daniel finds his past and his future. A little DxS. Crossover with Stargate SG-1.
1. The Fenton Family

Ghost Guardian

By Quick-demon

Disclaimers: It's it really necessary to point out I don't own DP or SG-1 characters?

A/N: AU. This is a crossover with one character of Stargate SG-1. It's before the program but may have future references. If you don't know SG-1 you don't really need to with this story but if you do that's great too.

A/N2: There are two Daniels... or Dannys. To lower confusion Danny Fenton will always be called Danny and the other Daniel. Since in their own shows that is what they are known by.

Well enjoy!

* * *

"We're here," the woman announced stopping the car

The boy's deep blue eyes blinked uninterested through his gold round glasses that matched his plain golden brown mop-like hair. The woman didn't wait for any answer before opening the door and allowing herself out. She headed for the back of the car and popped the boot open to pull out a large briefcase.

The boy looked out and saw a large square two-story house with a strange metal contraption on top of it. It resembled something like a large antenna or a satellite with lots of junk on it. On the front of the building, in bold writing was stamped out FENTON WORKS.

_What was the point?_ The boy asked himself. He knew he was only going to be here for a week before being dragged off to another foster family. No one wanted to take care of a fourteen year old kid who had a traumatic experience. He was beginning to suspect that the social services were paying families to take him in.

With a sigh he opened the car door and let himself out. He moved off to the African-American woman and grabbed for his luggage.

"Its ok I got it" the woman kept her grip offering to carry it for him   
"I can carry it myself," the boy said defensively

At that tone of voice the woman released the handle and allowed the child to carry it. Instead she moved towards the door and knocked, the boy dragged along behind her.

After a few seconds a woman with brown hair, violet eyes and in a teal jumpsuit appeared at the door.

"Mrs Fenton?"   
"Hi! Oh you must be Mrs Kall from the social services" the jumpsuit woman instantly recognized, "Please call me Maddie. Come in"

The dark haired Mrs Kall gave a smile before entering the Fenton household. Maddie looked past the officer and at the child. The wide-eyed child stared at the woman with curiosity wondering why she was wearing a jumpsuit.

"Hello and you must be Danny" she gave a warm smile   
"It's Daniel," the boy snapped cringing at the sound of the nickname. After seeing the stunned look on the woman's face he tried to recover, "I mean, I like to be called Daniel"   
"Well come in then" she said as he moved past her before closing the door

The newcomer looked around the home. It was quite spacey inside. The door led right into the living room while stairs led up to the second floor. In front of him was a couch and a coffee table. There a teenage girl was lying on the couch reading a book. She had orange-brown hair that was kept back with a green hair band. She wore a black shirt and light green pants. She perked up with interest at their arrival and greeted them with politeness.

"Hello Mrs Kall" she stood up greeted, "I'm glad you could make it"

They both briefly shook hands.

"Hello Jazz. I really should thank you all for taking this child in. I'm afraid not many families wants to take care of a child at his age" Mrs Kall said sadly putting her hand on the kid's shoulder, "People, think fourteen year olds are too old and hard to handle"   
"People just don't understand what it is like to be fourteen" the girl, Jazz, replied knowledgably

The kid hated being talked about as if he wasn't in the room.

"And we can provide a strong nurturing environment-" Jazz said in a professional voice before being interrupted  
"It's done!" a loud voice bellowed

Then suddenly a large bulky man dressed in an orange jumpsuit appeared at the living room entrance from the kitchen holding out a strange device. The kid just stared at the size of the man and how he was hard to miss with the bright orange jumpsuit he wore.

"I call it the Fenton Sickly Ghost! It can give any ghost a range of ghostly diseases!" the man informed the people in the room of his latest invention   
"Dad!" Jazz wailed as he was ruining something important   
"What honey? Oh I know! You want to see a demonstration!" the man said excitedly mistaking the wail for an invitation   
"Wait-" Jazz gabbled trying to reach for the gadget, "No!"

Oblivious the man gave a big grin before pressing a button that was on the device but nothing happened. He frowned before pressing the button again and again.

"Hmmm that's funny it was working a moment ago…I guess it only works when a ghost is around…" he trailed into his thoughts

Maddie politely interrupted her husband knowing he hadn't noticed the new guests, "Jack this is Mrs Kall from the social services"   
Jack instantly looked at the dark haired brown skinned woman, "What? You can't take our children away!!"   
"Jack" Maddie said sweetly keeping her patience, "She's here to bring the foster child in from the orphanage, remember?"   
"Ah, yes of course" Jack gave an embarrassed grin

Mrs Kall gave a confused expression.

Jazz gave a stiff chuckle, "Ahhh, as I was saying we can provide a strong nurturing environment for him to grow and develop-"

A door opened and slammed, the sound interrupted her the second time. They all looked over to see a raven-haired blue-eyed boy entering the house with a bored expression. He had a white shirt and blue jeans.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad. I'm going up my room to do homework and I don't need any parental checking up on or any help," he said in a monotonous ramble before setting a foot on the first step   
"Danny" Maddie prompted in her sweet voice, "There is someone here for you to meet"   
Danny looked over and registered the rest of the occupants in the room, "Oh uh… huh?"   
Mrs. Kall decided to speak up at this point, "I'm sure you will all make a good family for him"

She moved to the foster boy behind her to bring the central focus on him. The boy shifted awkwardly under everyone's attention and pushed his glasses back up. He suddenly found the picture on the wall more interesting.

"Everyone this is Daniel Jackson" she announced to the family before speaking to the newcomer, "Daniel this is Madeline, Jack, Jasmine and Daniel Fenton"

The orphan looked at each person in turn as they were being introduced. They seemed friendly enough. The look of their home meant they were well off but the way they were dressed meant fashion and outward status didn't mean much to them. He could tell by the odd clothing the parents wore that they did their work at home, what they do was unclear but he could tell it wasn't a pen-pushing job.

His eyes fell to the boy by the stairs. He was average, about his hight and weight and perhaps age as well. The foster kid looked at him straight in the eye. The black haired boy blinked and quickly looked away feeling intimidated by the foster kid's curious and inquisitive stare.

"Hey" Maddie said cheerfully seeing the foster child wasn't going to respond

The foster kid's attention was diverted back to the rest of the family and just stared at them curiously.

"You can call me Maddie ok?" she finished giving a welcoming smile  
"And you can call me Jazz if you like" Jazz gave a wave

Jack leaned forward but the child didn't move back.

"Hey there kiddo! Wait until you hear me blabber on about ghosts and my ghost hunting! Then we can eat fudge, lots and lots of fudge!"

The kid stared at the large man, bewildered.

"Dad! You're scaring him!" Jazz growled trying to push her father away   
Jack moved back lost in his own thoughts, "Mmmmm… fudge"   
"Well I must go. I'll leave all of you to it" Mrs Kall said politely before looking at her watch, "I hate to run but I have an appointment at eleven. Thank you very much"   
"Oh it's our pleasure" Maddie replied politely   
The woman gave a warm smile to the orphan, "Goodbye Daniel. Good luck"   
She turned and headed for the door. His voice was quiet but responded, "See you soon"

With that she let herself out of the door. With the event over Maddie took charge.

"Danny, why don't you show Daniel his new room?" she asked

Danny, who just stared at the new kid nodded. Daniel saw the indication and trudged towards the stairs. Without a word he followed the black haired child up to the second floor. Jack's attention span finished and he was back thinking about his device.

"Perhaps it needs a little more tweaking…" Jack murmured, "If only I could test it"   
"Only if there was a ghost entity around…" Maddie started   
"Maddie! You're a genius!" Jack bellowed before running back down to the basement

Maddie gave a smile to the compliment before turning to her daughter.

"Jazz could you keep an eye on Daniel. I know that Danny is up there with him at the moment but I want to make sure that he settles in ok. I'll be busy for most of the day-"   
"Say no more Mom" Jazz interrupted   
Maddie gave a smile of relief, "Thanks Jazz. I'll be in the lab with your father if you need me"

Maddie returned to the lab following Jack's footsteps but in more of a sedated pace. Jazz sighed before sitting back down on the couch and returning to her book.

* * *

Danny opened the door to the spare room.

"And here's your room"

The kid was given a quick tour of the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom before his own room was introduced but showed little interest.

The child said nothing as he entered and dropped his luggage next to his new bed

Danny watched on as the foster kid ignored him and started to unpack. He'd been so busy for the past few days with ghost fighting he totally forgot about the foster kid coming today. For weeks his parents were talking about taking in a foster child. Jazz supported the idea of course but he wasn't too thrilled himself. It was hard enough keeping his secret away from his parents, let alone from the new addition to the family. Even his older sister eventually found out. What possessed his parents to take in another child anyway? Even if he was the same age, same hight and build and technically had the same name as he did…

Danny shook his head feeling stupid for thinking his parents was going to replace him with a complete stranger… it was stupid, wasn't it?

"Get a grip Danny" Danny hissed at himself for thinking such a stupid thought, "Its not like my parents adopted him… he's just staying for a while. It's not like I'm getting replaced or something…"   
"Do you always talk to yourself?" the foster kid asked him continuing to unpack

Danny jumped wondering how his thoughts were spoken out loud and how hard his quiet voice was.

"Uh… um, uh"   
"Don't worry no one wants a fourteen year old foster kid anyway so I'll be out of your way in a week or so" the boy turned to him, "Isn't that what you want?"

Danny suddenly found himself standing around quite embarrassed. Feeling awkward he decided change the subject and to break the ice a bit.

"Wow… heh, you travel light"

The other teen didn't respond but kept unpacking books. _That went over well_… Fenton thought

"Uh, try not to go down to the basement, my parents are usually down there and they don't like to be disturbed when they make stuff, oh and don't touch the ham in the fridge…"

Jackson kept ignoring him.

"Uh do you need a hand?" Danny offered trying to get through to the kid   
"I don't need help to unpack my suitcase" Jackson snapped pushing up his glasses, "I'm not eight"   
"So-orry!" Danny rolled his eyes then added, "Sheesh. Someone woke up on the wrong side"

Silence resumed and Danny decided to high tail it out of there. He had more important stuff to do than entertain their newest addition.

"Well if you need anything don't hesitate to give us a yell," he offered before leaving  
"No one can give me what I need," the boy muttered before picking up a small red book.

It was weather worn and tattered but it was the most treasured possession he held. The child gave a heavy sigh.

* * *

Danny chewed his Mighty Meaty burger with his best friends, Tucker and Sam, in their usual place in Nasty Burger. Tucker's hazel green eyes lit up, as his brown skin became red at the cheeks, almost matching his red beret that sat on his head.

"I finally got tickets to see Bethany Barks next weekend!" Tucker almost squealed

Sam sat across from him her short black hair sat by her pale face as a small ponytail tipped the top. Her clothing was in the usual goth, black green and purple.

"Bethany Barks?" Sam questioned in disgust   
"Who's Bethany Barks?" Danny asked   
_"Who's Bethany Barks_?" Tucker repeated in disbelief, "You don't know who Bethany Barks is?"   
"I do" Sam replied, "A plastic pop doll princess that lip sings and is more popular for her silicon than for her no-talent. Heh, she even outdoes Paulina in the shallow department"   
"Hey, I resent that! She's _the_ most hottest _the_ most talented singer to hit the charts since Brittany Brittany! " Tucker defended before grinning, "And she _loves_ technology… well at least cell phones"

Tucker held up a pink cell phone that had his favourite pop singer's face on the back. He stared at it longingly.

"She even personalizes the cell phones" Tucker pushed the phone towards Sam, "See?"   
Sam wrinkled her nose and moved her head back as she pushed the device away, "I've seen a dog's butt more personalized than that"   
"You've seen dog's butts?" Danny asked raising an eyebrow 

Sam threw a glare in Danny's direction and ignored him.

Tucker leaned back and pulled the phone towards him, "You're just jealous that you're not as great and beautiful as Bethany Barks!"   
"Tch, please! If you think I'm jealous by a teenie bopper airhead then you seriously have some issues. Especially if you carry a pink cell phone" Sam paused to scoff, "I mean those things were made for girls"   
Tucker covered the cell phone around the sides with his hands with a hurt expression, "You hurt its feelings!" then he cooed at the phone, "Don't listen to her! You were made for every living fan!"

Sam rolled her purple eyes giving up hope. Danny gave a small smile to himself before taking another bite. Sam decided to move on and she grabbed her drink.

"So Danny how was it this morning with the foster kid?" Sam asked. They all knew this event was coming for a long while.   
"Huh? Oh great" Danny shrugged, "Nothing grand, all he does is sit in his room and read. The whole time I was there he was reading this old red book. I tried talking to him but he's always angry or something"   
"Is he Goth?" Sam asked interested, "Or Emo?"   
"He's got the attitude" Danny retorted   
"Its hard adjusting to a different life" Tucker pipped in. Both of them looked at him and he became aware of it, "Well if you think about it, he's only staying with you because he doesn't have anywhere else to go"   
"Well maybe he should at least be more grateful" Danny muttered then added as an after thought, "Or more nice"   
"Give it time" Sam replied wisely, "He'll adjust when he's ready"   
"Yeah I guess" Danny shrugged, "If he can adjust to Jazz's intellect and my parent's obsession with ghost hunting. Sure, he'll adjust just fine"

Danny was about to take another bite into his burger when the familiar shiver ran up his spine and blue mist escaped his lips. His friends also saw it and they knew what was coming. Sure enough a ghost appeared in its usual green skin, phasing out of the floor in front of them. It gave a horrific screech, which brought everyone's attention to it. At the paranormal sight everyone in the joint ran away screaming.

Except for three people.

"I'm going ghost," Danny cried as a white ring appeared at his waist.

With cool special effects the ring split in two, going opposite directions and passed his body. Turning his causal clothing to his ghostly jumpsuit, turning his black hair to white and his blue eyes to neon green. He gave a smile as he rose up to the challenge of beating the new escapee.

"It's time you went back to the Ghost Zone," Danny said as he floated up to face it

The ghost was male; it had a mop top full of brown hair and large dark glasses. It wore a brown shirt and blue ripped jeans. Its ghostly eyes were brown and full of sadness as it wailed again.

"Danny!" it cried with sorrow.   
"Dude, did it just say your name?" Tucker asked

Danny frowned knowing Tucker was right but also knowing he never seen this ghost before.

"It's Danny. Danny Phantom" Danny told to ghost   
"Danny!"   
"What do you want?" Danny demanded deciding to be a little diplomatic   
Then suddenly the ghost's eyes glowed red and screamed, "Pain! PAIN! Sooooo much PAIN!!!"   
"Oooookaaaay…" Danny quipped, "Cross sanity off the list"

Then ghost flew right at him angrily, with its arms stretched out. Danny pulled his arm back and threw a punch. It connected with the ghost's jaw sending the abnormality flying. Danny flew after it shooting Ghost Rays in it's wake. The ghost screeched as its body was inflicted with pain.

"Danny!" it screamed again   
Danny stopped, "Dude, stop saying my name!"

The ghost recovered from the pain and flew back up again in a surprise attack. With a fist covered in Ectoplasm, the ghost punched the hybrid away sending the kid to the other side of the restaurant. The punch landed square on his chest, winding him causing a good amount of pain. Danny realized where he was going to land and squeezed his eyes shut. He turned invisible and passed through the brick wall before turning back again and landing on the tarmac outside.

The ghost phased through the wall as well pursing his opponent. It rose above Danny before it came down for another attack. Danny moved out of the way as the ghost slammed its fist into the ground, cracking the pavement.

"Wow, that's some punch!" he gasped still trying to recover from the earlier blow

Danny floated up and shot more green Ectoplasm at it but this time the ghost dodged.

"PAIN!" he screeched, "Suffering! Daniel!"   
"Ok you're really freaking me out now" Danny commented

The ghost growled in fury before going at Danny again with a punch. Danny easily dodged it. The ghost swung his fist again and he dodged the attack again.

"Come on? Is that all you got?" Danny taunted

The ghost growled and moved back but didn't come in for another attack. Danny saw his chance and swung at the ghost, the ghost blocked his attack, and then blocked another before quickly gathering Ectoplasmic energy within its palms and blasting it at point blank range at Danny's chest.

Danny gave a yelp as he was engulfed in a green ray, pushing him all the way back, crashing into a brick wall. He was winded and struggled to catch air before the ghost came in for another attack.

"I should really consider what I say to ghosts when I'm fighting them" Danny spluttered

Danny recovered he was just in time to see a fist flying straight at his face. Danny turned intangible and receded into the wall behind him. The ghost missed and his fist slammed into the bricks. The force cracked the wall and loosening bricks as he withdrew his fist. The ghost howled in pain and anger. Danny phased back out again next to the impact site.

"Ok time to cool off" Danny commented as his eyes glowed light blue. He shot a large ice beam at the ghost with his hands.

The ghost froze instantly but with in seconds its eyes glowed red, his frozen prison cracked before exploding into thousands of pointy shards. His voice howled in blinding rage. Danny saw the shower of shards and turned intangible but also realized that the shards were raining on the immediate area. Within tens of seconds he registered Sam and Tucker in the middle of the empty Nasty Burger parking lot with no shelter from the icicles. He swooped down and transferred his power of intangibility just in time as the shards embedded themselves into the ground.

The ghost formed Ectoplasmic energy within its hands and shot beams at the ghost child. Danny barely realized before he quickly focused his energy and erected a Ghost Shield to protect him and his friends from the attack. The intangibility wore off on all of them.

"Get out of here!" Danny commanded to his friends as the ghost swooped down and started to punch and hit the Ghost Shield to make it weaken and disappear.

Danny grunted as the powerful blows to the shield zapped his energy to try and keep the shield up. Seeing their intentions of helping Danny were a hindrance for the moment, Sam and Tucker quietly obeyed and ran to a safe distance.

Once they were far away enough Danny dropped the shield and quickly moved as the ghost swung another punch. Instead of hitting a shield it hit the tar ground.

"Why are you attacking me for? I didn't do anything to you" Danny pointed out readying himself for another clash

The ghost's eyes flashed a brighter red seeing it was getting nowhere and flew towards the ghost child. The ghost swung wildly at the halfa in his fury but Danny easily dodged the wide and predictable attacks. Then he gave a smirk before throwing a punch to greet the infuriated ghost. But the male ghost caught Danny's fist and threw him to the ground.

Danny landed flat on his back as the ghost came at him with high speed, aiming a strong and powerful blow.

"Danny! Catch!" Sam's voice came

Danny looked over to find Sam and Tucker running towards him. Sam waved the Fenton Thermos before throwing it towards Danny. With a smirk, Danny caught it and opened the lid. He pointed at the incoming ghost as it hummed, powering up.

The ghost realized too late as a blue light developed within the cavities of the thermos and blasted out towards it. The ghost screamed as the blue white energy entrapped it and pulling the spirit into the tiny confines of the mechanism.

Danny twisted the lid back on sealing the ghost's fate before standing up to face his friends. The white ring appeared around him again and split in opposite directions to change his form back to human, dressed in his usual casual attire.

His friends approached him.

"A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon, fighting ghosts" he said flatly, "I was starting to wonder if ghosts take breaks during the weekends as well"   
"Well they better take a break next weekend when Bethany Barks comes to Amity Park for one night only!" Tucker put in

They started to walk away from the restaurant as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker.

"Don't tell me you're seriously going to see her!"   
"Of course! How can I miss the chance to see the most beautiful woman in the world _and_ be amongst thousands of screaming hot girls in the crowd!?"   
"Yeah not to mention you'll be the only guy there," Sam pointed out   
"Your point being?" Tucker gave a smirk   
"Oh forget it" Sam threw her hands up in defeat   
"You guys wanna swing by my house?" Danny asked changing the subject, "I have to drop off the ghost in the ghost zone"   
"Sure there's nothing else to do" Sam shrugged   
"And this is coming from a person who has a bowling alley and a giant movie theatre in their basement" Tucker pointed out to Sam.   
"Besides I also want to meet the new kid," Sam added in glaring at Tucker for blabbering about her loaded home lifestyle   
"You coming too?" Danny asked his best friend   
"Yeah, as long I don't have to sit through any ghost hunting lectures that your dad is so bent on giving us every time we're around" Tucker said distastefully, "Or look at one of his new inventions"

With that the trio headed down the street towards the Fenton home.

* * *

To Be Continued...

Ok so it's no cliffhanger... but that's a good thing right? It's just an introduction, a foundation of what is to come.

So what do you think? Love it, hate it... or just don't get it? Then review and tell me how you feel.


	2. Meeting the kid

As the trio arrived home, Jack Fenton ran up from the stairs from the basement carrying his newly improved device. He had a big grin on his face as three people walked through the front door. He found an audience to show his new device to.

"It's finally done!" Jack bellowed holding out his new device in front of Danny, "The new and improved Fenton Sickly Ghost can track _and_ give any ghost any ghostly deseases and it was invented by me! Jack Fenton!"

Danny shrank back looking at the device with fear. His friends behind him looking on with equal awareness. They knew that the inventions from the older Fenton's made was hazardous to Danny's health since he was half ghost. Perhaps if they knew he was half ghost then they wouldn't make such dangerous as well as helpful gadgets.

But they didn't.

A red light flashed on the remote control like device and Jack's face lit up like a Christmas tree. A female computer voice announced, "Ghost detected"

"Now you'll see how this baby works!" Jack grinned before he pointed his index finger and went to hit the big green button

Then Jazz came into the living room. She suddenly saw her father was about to use his new device. She gasped knowing she had to draw him away from Danny. She ran back into the kitchen, opened the kitchen draw, grabbed some metal utensils and dropped them on the tile floor.

Then she cried pretending to be in trouble, "erm eeeek a ghost…"

In the living room Jack heard the loud cluttering noise and Jazz's cry from the kitchen.

"The ghost is in the kitchen!" he announced before running off

Using the opportunity the three teenagers climbed the stairs and disappeared before Jack could came back to complete his introductory on his latest invention. Jack entered the kitchen to find Jazz standing there in front of the open draw. Of course his mind too trained on ghosts to realize he caught his daughter red handed.

"Where's the ghost?" Jack asked pointing his device in every direction as if it was a gun

"Uh… I think it flew away," Jazz answered

Jack slouched and pouted, "Awwww, I wanted to use the Fenton Sickly Ghost. It has the Fenton Finder installed and everything"

Jazz patted his slouched back, "Maybe next time"

Jack perked up, "Oooh I know! I can track it down in the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle!"

Before Jazz could take the next breath her father grabbed the keys and raced out the door.

From the lab Maddie appeared at the kitchen door with her jumpsuit hood and goggles over her head, "Where's your father?"

"He decided to track ghosts… again"

Maddie sighed, "Well I'm sure your father will be back soon. I'll start dinner. Do you mind if you kept an eye on both Dannys'"

"Sure thing Mom" Jazz replied

Maddie moved off towards the kitchen. Jazz picked up the utensils she dropped and moved off to head for her room. That way she could do what her mum asked and finish off the latest issue of Genus Magazine.

In a rush Danny left the Fenton Thermos in his room. He rubbed his chest feeling like someone had taken a bat and swung it at him. Well to be more precise it was an Ectoplasmic ghost punch from the ghost at the Nasty Burger. He pulled up his shirt to see a large purple bruise forming on his pale skin. Danny knew it was nothing to be worried about but he knew it would hurt for a week or so.

He left his room and led Sam and Tucker to a closed door at the end of the short hall. It was plain white like his parent's door oppose to his or Jazz's, which was decorated with posters, lettering and stickers. Danny knocked on the wood making a hollow noise.

"Yeah?" the voice on the other end answered

"It's Danny can I come in?" Danny asked

A sigh came before he voice answered, "Yeah"

Danny turned the doorknob and opened the door. The same age teen laid on his bed putting down a book he had been reading. The golden shaggy haired kid stared at Danny and the strangers with bright blue eyes that were framed by round gold glasses.

Danny could see his surprise so he introduced his friends.

"These are my two best friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Guys this is Daniel Jackson"

"Hey"

"Hi"

The three entered the room as Daniel sat up.

"Hello" he greeted still surprised to see the new visitors

"Nice place you got here…" Tucker trailed seeing the room was bare, "Could use a bit of paint"

The three visitors separated as they entered. Sam approached the stranger as Tucker wondered around the empty room and Danny hovered around the entrance quietly watching.

"So where are you from?" Sam asked sitting on the bed near him

Jackson swung his legs to the side of the bed and shrugged, "It doesn't matter"

"Sure it does" Sam insisted feeling the kid's shyness

"No it doesn't matter. I doesn't matter where I've come from, all that matters is where I'm going," he said in his quiet and hard voice

Sam was taken by surprise by that answer and heard the experience in the teen's voice. The foster kid stole a glance at Sam's face and looked into her violet eyes. He expected pity but he got curiosity. He faltered and gave a sigh. Sam gave a reassuring smile. He blushed a little before turning away a bit.

"Promise you wont laugh?" he ventured

"Cross my heart" Sam replied

Daniel gave a small sigh, "Well ok… I-I was born in Egypt"

"You mean desert Egypt?" Tucker blinked

The kid nodded.

"You don't look Egyptian," Tucker pointed out

"My parents were American. They were there on an archaeological dig" the kid opened up a bit, "My parents shared the same interests that led them to do everything together…"

"Sounds familiar…" Danny muttered

"You have a large collection of books," Tucker observed at the pile of books in the corner waiting to be put on a shelf, "But no videogames or tech…"

"I like books" Jackson pushed his glasses back up, "Video games get tedious and boring but with books you can use your imagination and learn lots of things"

Danny saw the way Sam's eyes lit up while Tucker frowned.

"Video games are the best form of entertainment around!"

"Yeah if you like destruction and violence" Sam pointed out

"And what's wrong with that?" Tucker asked defensively

Sam rolled her eyes and focused her attention back on the foster kid, "I think books are great too"

Tucker gave up the argument and moved off to have a curious snoop at the foster kid's stuff.

Danny watched the whole scenario from the doorway. He tried to talk to this kid before but he just shot him down, now he was all friendly with Sam? He didn't really know why but he had a strange feeling about him, something he should be wary of…

"Whoa dude!" Tucker picked up some of the books that were next to the teen's bed and read some titles, "Gods of Ancient Egypt? Mummification? Anubis, Lord of the Underworld? Man half of these are game titles!"

The kid growled and snatched the books out of Tucker's hands.

"Tucker!" Sam scowled

"What? I was just only looking!" Tucker said defensively

"Why are you here?" Daniel said defensively but diverting his eyes to the floor and glaring at it, instantly claming up again

"We thought you might want some company," Sam answered before anyone else could

"I don't need company" Jackson said defensively, "I don't need anyone"

"See what did I tell ya?" Danny muttered

Daniel seemed to hear this. He stood up and glared at Danny.

"Just go away!" he growled, "You all are just the same!"

"Fine maybe I will" Danny snapped, "I was only trying to be nice"

"Well I don't need your sympathy or your niceness" Daniel growled and turned away

Danny folded his arms "Well if you're going to be a brat…"

Sam shot Danny a glare at his insensitivity, "Danny!"

"What?" Danny blinked innocently at Sam

"I'm no brat!" Daniel almost snarled turning to the Fenton kid, "What do you know? You got everything you want! The way I see it you're the brat!"

Before Danny could reply his sister appeared at the door, "Danny? Are you two fighting? Already?"

"Don't worry I'll be out of your way in a week anyway. So what do you care?" the boy snapped ignoring Jazz turning around to put his books away, "Just leave me alone!"

"Why what happens in a week?" Tucker asked

Jackson grunted, "I get kicked out"

"Don't be silly! No one's going to kick you out" Jazz reassured, "Why would anyone want to?"

"Yeah" Sam agreed, "Danny's parents are not like that"

"He just wants to play victim" Danny accused, "So leave him alone, like he asks"

Daniel gave a sneer, "Don't blame me if you have inadequacy issues with your family"

That comment caught Danny right off guard, "What?"

"So just leave me alone!"

"Way to go Danny," Sam said sarcastically

"Ok! Fine! We'll leave!" Danny cried having enough of the foster kid's attitude

"Danny-" Sam protested

Her protest was cut off as Danny grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door.

"No Sam. It's obvious that he doesn't want us here and wants to be left alone!"

Jazz and Tucker followed waving good-bye at the kid. The child glared after them and growled. He slammed the door behind them and leaned against it. He looked down and stared intensely at the floor regretting letting his guard down. He would always be different. He knew he never fit in anywhere. He's always the extra piece to a puzzle set. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered.

Soon as they were outside in the hallway Danny released Sam as she pulled away.

"What's wrong with you?" she hissed

"What?" Danny said defensively, "The guy's a complete jerk! It's obvious he didn't want us in there!"

"You don't understand where he's coming from or what happened to him! How can you just pass judgement like that?" Sam argued, "I say you're the complete jerk!"

"Well maybe if he told us all that maybe I could understand" Danny argued back

"Maybe its personal stuff that he doesn't want to talk about!" Sam defended, "You should at least be more sensitive!"

"What? Well if he didn't bite my head off all the time maybe I can be," Danny snapped folding his arms

Their quiet voices steadily climbed to a shouting level. Jazz and Tucker quietly watched and decided to stay out of it. Jazz decided to sneak off to her room and approach Danny when he had time to cool off. Tucker was also contemplating on sneaking off but then he thought about Jack Fenton down stairs ready to show any thing that moves his inventions and talk about ghosts. Instead he decided to stay where he was and look through his PDA. He gave a smile as he raised his treasured gadget to his face and accessed pictures of Bethany Barks.

"I can't believe you're being such a jerk over this!" Sam accused

"Me a jerk?" Danny snapped then said sarcastically, "Oh and I guess his attitude is sweet and pleasing"

Sam gave in and growled stormed past Danny, "Oh forget it! It's like talking to a brick wall!"

Danny frowned and gave a growl to Sam's disappearing form.

"Fine!" Danny yelled at her back as she disappeared down the stairs, "Leave!"

"I'm already gone!"

Tucker looked up from his PDA to see Danny walking off into his room. He heard the front door thundering shut. Tucker cringed at the loud noise knowing Sam was venting her anger in her exit. Tucker followed Danny a few feet behind before finding his friend's door slamming in his face, as he was about to enter the room.

"Hey!" Tucker protested, "I wasn't even involved!"

There was no reply.

Tucker glared before knocking and yelling, "Hey! Open up Danny!"

Still there was no reply. Getting the hint that he wasn't wanted around anymore Tucker turned away and headed for the stairs.

"Well if you want it that way…" Tucker said angrily before following in Sam's footsteps and leaving the house as well, "They fight and I get the blame!

Tucker looked longingly at his PDA, "I can never fight with you! That's why technology is a man's best friend!"

* * *

To Be Continued...

I know this is an unusual crossover but give it a chance. Anyway review if you like to express your opinion. Its a free country after all...


	3. Suspicions

AN: Hi everyone. Thanks for your reviews, I appreicate the feedback on how this story is doing.

* * *

Danny didn't mean to shut Tucker out like that. He didn't realize his best friend was behind him. He was going to open the door back up when his ghost sense was released from his lips. He gave a gasp sound and looked around his room, waiting for a sign.

"Hey! Open up Danny!"

Danny blinked as he realized he still hadn't let Tucker in. He reached over to open the door when a shriek reached his ears. Danny turned as a ghost phased though the wall from the outside. Other than having a pale blue skin the ghost was female and had a red bandana on. Her blond hair was tied back as her eyes were deep blue, she wore a blue blouse and dirty jean overalls.

The ghost glared at the black haired child in the room, her blue eyes suddenly glowed red with hatred.

"Daniel!" it hissed

"Ok one ghost that I don't know and knowing my name is freaky enough but now two?"

With matrix style a white ring appeared at Danny's waist before splitting off changing the child to his ghost form.

"Pain!" the ghost wailed sadly, "Suffering!" then her soft sad expression changed to an angry and ugly one in an instant, "PAIN!!"

The ghost howled in anger before forming blue Ectoplasm in her hands and shot the halfa. Danny dodged and flew up. He saw the shots left burn marks within the carpet floor.

"Mom is going to kill me for that…" Danny trailed

The ghost kept firing at Danny as he flew around the ghost, the Ectoplasm leaving burn marks along the wall. Danny saw it and stopped before frowning in concentration.

"Ok time to take this outside!" Danny said before charging at the ghost

Danny dodged the blue Ectoplasm that flew his way and tackled the ghost, heading straight to the wall. With ease Danny became intangible, transferring his power to his opponent and they both slid through the brick wall unharmed. They returned to solid form on the other side. Soon as they were outside Danny broke away and shot his own Ectoplasmic energy at the ghost. Off guard the female ghost was hit and sent flying a few meters away.

The ghost regained herself before glaring at the ghost child. Danny zoomed towards her, his legs whipping into a tail to achieve a high speed. With his fists out in front he aimed right at the ghostly form. The ghost saw his attack; her hands emitted ghostly power and then waved her hands in front of her.

At the last second a shield appeared out in front of her. Danny saw it too late and smacked right into it like a bug on the windshield. The ghost cackled as the Ghost Shield disappeared and Danny cringed away, his chest throbbed from the last attack he endured.

"PAIN!!!" the ghost hissed, "DANIEL!!!"

The ghost shot blue powerful Ghost Ray at Danny. Danny squeezed his eyes closed and opened his arms to form a green Ghost Shield of his own. The ghost began to rain its power down on him but it was no use. The ghost saw its blasts were absorbed by her opponent's shield and gave a scream.

"What is her problem?"

With blazing fury the female ghost raised its right hand forming a powerful Ectoplasmic energy before hurtling the large blue energy ball at the halfa. Danny felt the attacks stop and dropped the shield, only to be faced with a huge blue Ghost Ray.

Before he knew it Danny was hit with the attack slamming him straight into the ground. He landed hard on the tar road below.

He gave a yelp as the blast hit right where the painful bruise on his chest was. He was again winded for the moment as the female ghost dived in for Ectoplasmic powered punch. Danny instinctively knew the attack was coming and turned intangible and sank through the road. The ghost also turned invisible and joined him in the sewers below.

She finished her attack sending the ghost kid flying off into the sewer wall. Danny struggled to recover from this one by peeling himself off the wall, but he was too slow. Already the female ghost grabbed him by the arm and phased back up out on the streets. She lifted him higher before flipping forwards and with all her might and threw the ghost kid down towards the ground.

She quickly collected energy within her ghostly palms and pushed bolts of ectoplasmic energy in rapid succession. The rain of bolts hit Danny as he fell pelting and nailing him into the ground below.

Danny yelped and slammed into the ground with a swirl of dust. Danny groaned his movements were in pain. His mind screamed for him to move so on pure adrenalin he dived out of the way just as the ghost slammed her fist into the ground. Cracks raced across the tar road before running out of energy. The ghost's face was twisted with blind fury. Danny floated up knowing he was unable to properly defend himself and clearly intimidated by the ghost's glare.

Suddenly a loud roar was heard and it was a sight for sore eyes. It was the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle or more commonly known as the Fenton RV. The female ghost turned to see a large man wearing a bright orange jumpsuit leaping out and pointing a gun like device at the ghost.

"I found you ghost! Now to finally I can test the Fenton Sickly Ghost" he cheered and pulled the trigger, "Take that! And that!"

A red ball of goo shot out of the gun, aimed at the female spirit. She dodged the first and second attack. Danny decided this was the break he needed to high tail it out of there and have a chance to recover. To be quite honest he felt extremely tired and sore and wanted nothing more but to sleep.

Danny ducked behind a dumpster to escape the battle. He suddenly felt drained and the white ring appeared around his waist.

"Keep still!" Jack growled as the ghost kept dodging his attacks

The ghost cackled.

"No ghost laughs at Jack Fenton!" Jack bellowed firing rapidly

The ghost found a barrage of red goo flying straight towards her. With a look of fear she suddenly disappeared in a cloud of ghostly smoke. Leaving the red goo to rain down on the dumpsters in the alleyway.

It happened in the space of a few seconds. One of the balls of red goo, against the odds, landed right on Danny in mid transformation. Danny howled in pain as the red goo bubbled on his skin before being quickly absorbed.

Danny didn't remember anything after that.

* * *

Danny woke, opening his eyes tiredly. He fully opened them when he realized who was over him. It was the foster child. Danny tried to get up but the kid put a hand on his arm.

"Don't move" Jackson instructed

Danny groaned as his whole body throbbed. He felt like he went ten rounds with Vlad.

"Danny are you ok?" a familiar voice asked

Danny turned his head to find his sister with a worried look on her face. For her to have that look meant his condition was quite serious. He observed he was in his own room. He frowned wondering how he got here. His last memory was… fighting a ghost… then his father coming out with his new weapon… then what?

"Daniel found you just lying in the hallway" Jazz explained, "I saw you lying there. We both got you in here, in you room"

Danny looked confused "What?"

"I told Jazz that we should've called the ambulance or at least your parents but…" Jackson shrugged

"You should probably rest now" Jazz suggested quickly changing the subject, "We'll comeback later to see how you are"

Danny nodded, still confused how he could've gotten from the outside in here. Jackson stood up to leave. He glanced at Danny then stared hard at Jazz before leaving the room. Once the door was closed Jazz quickly turned to Danny.

"Are you ok Danny? What happened?"

Danny shrugged feeling sluggish, "I dunno one minute I was fighting with a ghost and the next…"

"I saw you phase through the floor before collapsing" Jazz informed clearly worried, "What ghost did you fight?"

Danny blinked for a moment, "A female ghost but I dunno who she is and Dad scared her off"

"Dad was there?" she asked worried thinking about her father's recent invention

"He didn't see me though," Danny added quickly

Danny tried to sit up but a wave of dizziness washed over him and blood instantly drained away from his face. Jazz gently put her hand on his chest to force him to lie down again.

"Take it easy" she said quietly, "And gets some rest"

Danny obey feeling drained and closed his eyes. Jazz held a worry look on her face. Her little brother took quite the beating. He could have blown his secret since he phase through from the floor as himself. It was just as well Daniel didn't come out of his room a second earlier or he would've seen the strange phenomenon. Jazz knew Danny wouldn't have been so reckless unless something serious had happened.

After watching her brother fall into a deep sleep she got up and left the room. She suddenly stopped as a shiver went up her spine. She spun around and saw the foster kid in the hallway looking at her suspiciously. Jazz blinked back trying to look innocent.

"Is he ok?' Daniel asked his eye were carefully regarding concern

Jazz nodded, "He'll be fine"

"So what happened?" he asked, wondering why Jazz was trying to cover something up.

"He just tripped over and hurt himself" she lied, "He's always clumsy"

Daniel raised an eyebrow. When he saw Danny lying on the floor he looked pale and sick. It was more than a simple accident since he himself was the king of clumsiness. He could feel something was wrong, something more was going on... it was niggling at the back of his mind but he couldn't nail it.

Jazz gave a nervous grin trying her best to convince him. Daniel decided to let it slide since he knew he wouldn't get any answers from her anytime soon. All this was greatly suspicious and his curious nature wouldn't let him rest until he figured out what was going on.

He turned and headed towards his door.

"Daniel" Jazz called

The foster kid paused in front of his own bedroom door and turned to the girl. Jazz approached him. She was meaning to talk to the foster kid all day since the big fight this morning.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about Danny's behaviour this morning" she began, "He had no right to start picking a fight with you-"

She saw his blue eyes were hard, compared to this morning when they were filled with curiosity. She was caught off guard by how cold and hard they were.

He shrugged, "Don't apologize for him. It means nothing to me"

"Look I know you two gone off to a bad start but he's not bad once you get to know him," Jazz reasoned still trying to defend her brother

"Maybe but its obvious that he doesn't want me here" the foster kid replied his jaw clenched, "...And I can accept that"

Jazz bit her lip, "Give it some time, he'll warm up"

"Perhaps its him you should ask to adjust and not me. I'm not the one whose concerns are being ignored" his voice was quiet but firm

Jazz as taken aback by his answer since she was usually the one delivering the psychological answers. The foster kid turned and entered his room then closed the door firmly behind him. Left with that thought she ventured into her own room.

* * *

Danny woke up. He looked over to his clock. It was quarter to six. He'd been asleep for a couple of hours. He sat up flinching slightly as his side felt a bit sore. He felt much better then before but decided to take it easy. He rose out of bed fighting off a bit of dizziness as he got up too quickly and stumbled over to his study desk. It was messy as clutter filled most of any workable space. He had done his homework over the weekend including this morning. Last thing he wanted was another pointless detention with Mr. Lancer. If it could be avoided then Danny made sure that it was.

Danny saw the Fenton Thermos that sat quietly on a corner of his desk. He decided to go and deposit the ghost back into the Ghost Zone before anything else happens that forced the ghost out. He wasn't in any mood to fight ghosts now since he just had his butt kicked. He didn't know what hurt more, his pride or his body. Either his fighting skills were slipping or the ghosts he's fighting are becoming stronger.

He grabbed the thermos and opened his door. He steadily stepped down the stairs before heading to the basement.

He saw his father watching something on TV with his drinking hat and munching on Fenton Beef Jerky. He could smell the aroma of food drifting from the kitchen indicating his Mom decided to cook today. His Mom had pretty good cooking skills for someone who spent most of her time devoted to hunting ghosts and ghost hunting inventions. Even if they weren't the most glorious of meals at least they were edible… compared to his Dad's cooking…

Danny slipped down to the basement; the grey walls and metal floor of the lab greeted his sight. Danny casually walked through; not paying attention to any of the junk that was piled up and reached the closed portal. Beside the portal was a small slot to insert the Thermos. His parents built it in when they built the thermos thinking the thermos was going to work.

Danny inserted the device and pressed the release button like he had done so many times before. With a chime the ghost was dispensed into the ghost zone and Danny removed the thermos safely before leaving to go back up stairs.

"This is certainly an interesting place…"

Danny jumped in surprise before he registered the foster boy was standing at the entrance of the basement. Luckily the kid was too interested in his surroundings to notice Danny's jump and him hiding the thermos behind his back. Suddenly Danny felt greatly annoyed and irritated by the appearance of Daniel.

"What are you doing down here?" Danny asked suspiciously

Jackson shrugged as he looked around, "Just was curious to see what was down here"

"Well you shouldn't be here," Danny scowled at him just wanting the sticky beak to go away

"Then why are you down here?" Daniel looked at him, "You looked sick as a dog. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"You don't miss much do you?" Fenton observed

Daniel shrugged, "I guess not"

"What do you want?" Danny demanded

"Nothing" Jackson replied, "Is this where your parents work?"

"Yeah, it's my parent's lab" Danny offered quickly

"A lab?" Jackson questioned raising an eyebrow, "What do they research?"

"Ghost hunting" Danny replied shortly

"Ghost hunting?" Daniel scoffed, "Why would anyone hunt ghosts? Presuming ghosts even exist"

"Well they're actually inventors but their main focus is ghost hunting" Fenton informed

"What kind of person would waste their time hunting ghosts?" Jackson snorted

Danny glared taking that remark a little too personally since he fought ghosts himself when he is in his ghost form.

"Oh I dunno, my parents!" Danny snapped feeling offended.

Sure his parents had a strange job but it was his job too in a way. He couldn't personally defend himself but he could defend his parents.

Daniel realized he just struck a cord and somewhat regretted the remark.

"Sorry" he apologized quietly

Danny blinked wondering if he had heard an apology from the foster child just now

"Do you want to follow in your parent's footsteps?" Jackson asked more seriously

Danny was totally caught off guard with the question, "I, erh…what?"

"I know that I would like to follow mine" Daniel replied with a far-away look in his deep blue eyes

Danny was completely confused with this guy. At first he was all-angry and hostile now he was calmer and inquisitive. This struck suspicion in Danny for some reason. The foster boy was strange in his behaviour. Also the kid was very good at sneaking around since Danny didn't hear him coming down the stairs.

There was more him that meets the eye. If he wasn't careful this kid could even find out about his secret…

"Yeah… whatever" Danny wanted to change the subject, "I think dinner is ready"

Danny ran past him and put the thermos on one of the cluttered counters and climbed back up the stairs.

Daniel watched him go up and eyed the strange thermos.

* * *

To Be Continued...

Will Sam and Danny ever make up? Will Daniel ever figure out Danny's secret and why are these ghosts attacking our ghost hero? The only way to know is to stay tuned and find out!

Review if you like. Love it, hate it or love to hate it... its up to you so review!


	4. Adjusting

A/N: Thanks the reviews, feed back is always appreciated.

* * *

Danny entered the living room as his mother announced dinner. Jack gave a grin and threw off his drinking hat and threw away his empty bowl of Fenton Beef Jerky and zipped to the table. Jazz came down from up stairs and Daniel emerged from the lab. All approached the kitchen with empty stomachs (except for Jack). The family assembled at the dinning table in their usual places. An extra plate was served for their newest addition to their family unit. 

Danny stuck his fork into the meat and three veg combo with a sour face. Jack went straight for the meat gobbling it down. Jazz gave a worried glance at her brother before politely tucking into her meal. Maddie had her hood off as she sat down last placing some salt and pepper shakers on the table.

Jackson looked around the table then stared at his plate while Jack ate like a starved pig next to him. Maddie noticed that the new kid wasn't eating.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked

Jackson shrugged, "I s'pose" and picked up a fork

Daniel couldn't help but remember when he last sat down with his parents. It was in a hotel a few streets away from the museum, where his parents were setting up an exhibit. They were sitting at the table and he could remember the smells and spices that came from the dish. His Mom always liked to cook different kinds of foods. She said that each reflected the lifestyle and culture of that nation of that time. His Mom was a linguist but she couldn't help but to learn about other cultures through her learning and through his dad, who was an archaeologist.

Jackson was knocked out of his daydream with a hit by the elbow from Jack. Jack noticed the lack of conversation at the table. He took the opportunity to share his obsession with ghosts with the newest member.

"You're quite the skinny fellow" Jack commented on the gaunt looking foster child next to him, "Remind me later to give you some Fenton Jerky and you'll become big and strong- mostly big- like me"

Daniel didn't know how to regard the man next to him so all he could do was stare.

"So… erhm… uh- what's you name again?"

"Daniel"

"Daniel? Hmm…this could get confusing…" Jack poked a meat piece into his mouth, "So what do you like to do for fun?"

Jackson shrugged, "Read… I guess"

"Reading? Ahh yes I was about your age when I first read a book. It was called Ghost Hunting. I can't remember what it was about… or what were all those words for but the pictures were spectacular. I think I still got it in the Garage… behind some old parts…if I can find it, you can read it"

"Um thanks… I think" the foster kid murmured

"Soooo, do you want to hear me blabber on about ghosts?" he asked the child

"NO!" Danny and Jazz instantly yelped

"Ahh yes! I fought many ghosts in my day! I was about your age when I first got into ghost hunting" Jack continued oblivious to any answer, "When I saw that movie Ghostbusters for the first time… that was it for me…"

His eyes half closed in remembrance. Jazz gave a sigh as Danny ignored him and continued to eat.

Maddie said in a sweet voice, "Now Jack remember what we talked about…"

"Ghost Busters is a fictional story," the boy said simply

Jack blinked and stared at Daniel.

"Everyone knows the true science behind the movie! Hollywood fluffs it up but don't doubt the science my skinny friend!" Jack recovered regarding the kid's comment silly. He shovelled more food in his mouth before continuing, "And then I knew what I wanted to be! A ghost hunter! Me, Jack Fenton! The greatest ghost hunter in the world!"

Food from his mouth sprayed everywhere. Pieces of saliva covered food landed on the table, on people and even on plates.

Jazz gave a furious cry, "DAD! That's _disgusting_!"

Danny gave a look of disgust as a piece of chewed carrot landed on his half eaten meat. He suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. Maddie glared at Jack. Jack saw everyone's cranky expression and blinked before giving a nervous grin.

"Heh, heh… sorry"

Jazz gave an abrupt sigh before excusing herself from the table. Danny pushed his plate away before getting up and leaving.

"Jack" Maddie said displeasingly, "Remember what I said about telling your ghost hunting stories at the table?"

Jack sighed and repeated monotonously, "Never tell my ghost hunting stories during breakfast, lunch or dinner"

Maddie smiled satisfied with the answer before picking up her plate and bringing it over to the kitchen. Maddie had little patience with ghosts but when it came to Jack she seemed to have boundless patience.

Jack watched her go into the kitchen, "Killjoy"

Daniel was still at the table looking awkwardly at Jack. Jack noticed and he continued.

"Now where was I…?" Jack trailed

"I've got to go… and do some homework" Daniel quickly excused and bolted from the table.

He decided to be wise and follow the example of both Jazz and Danny. Even if technically school started tomorrow and he had no homework.

Jack found he was alone. He shrugged and grinned.

"Oh well… more food for me!" he cheered before stuffing his face once again.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

Daniel flopped down on his bed and pulled the faded red book from under his pillow. He opened it to find messy handwriting. He flipped through the old yellowed pages to an old picture of his parents. They stared back at him with big smiles on their faces. His mother's left hand rested on her pregnant stomach. The picture was taken before he was born. They were on a dig site on the outskirts of Cairo Eygpt. Daniel never remembered them to be angry to him or to each other. They always loved him and worked hard to give him a good chance of a normal life without lots of travel.

Underneath the picture were three strange looking symbols. Daniel traced them with his finger remembering his father writing them down for reference to a recent break through in a translation.

"Amok nah na'tu" he breathed the words that were translated before him in his father's scrawl. He didn't know what it meant but it was like it somehow connected him with his parents.

He gazed at the photo, "Why do you have to leave me? Why couldn't you stay? Then I wouldn't be in this mess and then I wouldn't have to be alone"

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in" Daniel replied quickly snapping out of his thoughts and slipped the book back under his pillow

Daniel saw Maddie come in with a smile. He sat up.

"Are you settling in ok?" she asked

He shrugged, "Yeah I'm fine"

"I'm sorry for Jack's behaviour earlier… he's just excited to have you around" Maddie apologized

Daniel gave a small smile, "It's ok"

"I know it's hard" Maddie sat down beside him, "To settle in somewhere new. Mrs. Kall told me a little bit about what happened to your parents and your movements from foster home to foster home for the last few years"

Daniel gave a small nod. He knew that she would have known about his history.

"I just want you to know that we're here for you, if you want to talk or anything at all," she offered

"Thanks" Daniel said plainly knowing he was never going to talk about his feelings anyway but accepted the support just the same.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked

"Sure"

"Why… why did you decide to take me in?" Daniel asked, "You know my background. I'm fourteen and becoming too old for most families… so why?"

Maddie looked away for a moment to gather her thoughts, "Well I wanted to open our home to someone who needs it. We have a stable family home- well most of the time- and I wanted to share it, with you"

"What about everyone else in this house?" Daniel asked, "Did everyone else wanted to share like you did?

For some reason Danny's comment when he first came in this morning really bothered him.

_"Get a grip Danny! Its not like my parents adopted him… he's just staying for a while. It's not like I'm getting replaced or something…"_

Maddie blinked taken aback by such a question but she recovered with a smile and said, "Of course"

Perhaps Danny's comment was something he shouldn't have heard but it was an honest truth. To him it spoke volumes and it was obvious that no one read them or even bothered to. He was use to people not liking him.

Daniel gave a small smile, "Thanks Mrs. Fenton"

"Please call me Maddie"

Daniel smiled and looked away clearly ending any conversation that could be made. Maddie took the message, got up and left the room. Jackson stared after her.

**

* * *

****Monday.**

Jackson shoved his hands in his pockets as he trailed behind Danny and his friends. Today was Monday and that meant school. Daniel hated school, he never fitted in and he always was the subject of bullying. In the past, not even the children in the foster family he was placed in would hang with him. Plus Danny hated him. Why would this be any different?

"I'm sorry for arguing with you yesterday" Danny apologized when he met up with Sam and Tucker

"Yeah me too" Sam gave a small smile adjusting her backpack

"So friends again?"

"Friends on one condition"

"And what's that?" Danny asked almost dreading the condition

"Just be nice to Daniel" Sam replied

Danny held a displeasing look, "Only if-"

He stopped talking as he realized Sam's attention was diverted to the foster kid behind them.

Danny turned back around and sighed, "Oh forget it"

Sam turned to the foster kid, she saw his grim expression and hung back to walk at his pace.

"Don't worry too much about school" she guest his worry, "There is just one main bully, Dash Baxter"

"Dash Baxter?" Daniel repeated

"Yeah. He's just a muscle head jockey who can't tell between butter and margarine. Don't worry too much you'll be fine" Sam reassured, "His target is usually Danny"

"You have to remind me?" Danny sighed

Daniel looked at Fenton kid's back since he was in front of him.

"Just stick with us and you'll be fine" Sam put her hand on his shoulder

She felt him tense at her touch so she let her hand drop.

"Though there are a few things you should know before we enter school…"

"AHHHHHH!" A scream was heard

They all turned to the sound to find Tucker staring at his PDA.

"Why?! Why?!" he screamed melodramatically

"Let me guess your PDA ran out of battery" Danny said flatly, "Again"

"I charged it this morning!" Tucker whimpered, "It should be working, but, but it just blanked out…"

"So buy another one or get it repaired" Sam shrugged not seeing the big deal

"You know how much allowance that would take to get it fixed? I can't wait until then! I can't live without technology" Then he pulled out the pink Bethany Barks cell phone, "But I'll always have you!"

"Don't you always keep a back up?" Danny asked

"That _was_ my back up! After last week when the gho- I mean when I tripped over and broke my first one, I had to use this one. Plus it has all my pictures of Bethany Barks on it! And I can't go on if I can't look at her face!" he cried in a waterfall of tears

"Well that would explain why your PDA is broken" Sam smirked

"Can I take a look at it?" Daniel asked

Tucker sniffed and looked at him before handing it over to the foster kid. He inspected the device.

"You know how to fix it?" Danny asked surprised

Daniel shrugged, "Maybe. One of the last foster homes I went to the father owned an electronics repair shop. I would help out most of the time"

"Please, save my baby!" Tucker cried dramatically

"I will need a screw driver," Jackson ordered

Tucker pulled out a small kit from his bag, "It's my PDA first aid kit! Can't travel anywhere without it!"

"You have a PDA first aid kit? I don't even want to know" Sam shook her head softly and took the bag.

She dug around to take out a small screwdriver and handed it over. Daniel set off to work of opening the back and fiddling around inside. Tucker grew increasingly worried and he started to bite his nails. Danny hung back and watched with curiosity as Sam handed him the tools.

Finally Daniel closed the back and gave a sigh, "I've done all that I can"

"Is… is it going to make it?" Tucker quivered

Daniel handed the PDA to Tucker, "There's only one way to find out"

Tucker shook as he took the gadget and turned it on.

The light flashed on as it started up.

"YES! Thank you! Thank you!" Tucker cheered and hugged the foster kid, "I owe you big time!"

"You don't owe me anything" Jackson gasped at the crushing pressure, "Except trips to a chiropractor"

Tucker let him go and was already getting back to what he was doing earlier, looking at pictures of Bethany Barks.

"Wow that was pretty amazing" Sam grinned clearly impressed

Daniel shrugged but blushed, "It's nothing"

Danny gave an annoyed grumble at the exchange and moved off.

* * *

To be continued... 

Do I hint a little jealousy here, or just missed place feelings? Action is coming our way in the next chapter so stay tuned


	5. Cold sholder

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and story alerts.

* * *

"Turn to page twenty three" Mr Lancer ordered as he started to write something on the board

A rustle or pages could be heard as the class reluctantly flipped over to the correct page in their textbooks. Danny sighed feeling tired and bored. It was only Monday and already he wished the weekend would come. His mind distracted by the recent ghosts that kept shouting his name. _Who were they and what do they want?_

He stiffened a yawn wishing he could've slept in this morning. He did sleep like a rock last night but with all this extra curricular activity recently he wished he could have a little more shut eye.

"Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer singled him out

Danny blinked and realized the class had gone quiet.

"Uh…" he stammered no knowing what was going on

"The answer to my question Mr. Fenton" Mr Lancer raised an eyebrow

Danny scowled wondering why the teacher always singled him out, especially when his mind was somewhere else or when he was tired.

"Please try and pay more attention Mr. Fenton, you might learn something" Mr. Lancer said distastefully, "Does anyone know what is one kind of bacteria that causes food poisoning?"

There was silence.

"Anyone?"

Mr. Lancer looked around hoping for someone to answer but he was met with stares, note passing or some kids drawing on their paper.

"For God's Sake peoples! It's in your textbook!" Mr. Lancer snapped

Danny ignored the teacher and looked at his open textbook in boredom. Biology wasn't his thing. Science in general was something he couldn't gasp all that much. Considering his parents are scientists and his sister wants to be a brain surgeon one day… he sighed dejectedly.

Mr. Lancer spied the new student in his class, Mr. Jackson. He saw the child drawing on his paper looking bored. Feeling irritated he decided to single this new child out in the hopes of him paying attention to his classes more often.

"Mr. Jackson?" he prompted

Danny looked over to the foster kid. The child look distracted doodling on paper and not even acknowledging Mr. Lancer's call.

"Escherichia Coli" the child said offhandedly without looking up or stopping his drawing, "Or E. Coli, same thing"

Danny blinked. _Escheri- what?_. Then he looked down at his textbook and made a mental 'duh' when he saw the bacteria full name in his textbook as a title.

Mr. Lancer smiled, "Very good Mr. Jackson. And tell me something about it that the textbook doesn't mention"

_Try and get this one!_ Danny caught himself thinking. Danny blinked to himself. Was he really wishing the foster child bad luck?

The foster kid looked up and sighed seeing some of the students were half-heartedly waiting for an answer and the teacher staring at him expectedly.

"Unless you didn't hear my lecture on it earl-" Mr. Lancer was cut off

"E. Coli" Daniel began flatly, "Grows best when ph balance is neutral, like most micro-organisms"

Quite pleased Mr. Lancer gave a big smile, "Well done Mr. Jackson"

The foster kid shrugged and continued to draw on his paper as if nothing happened.

* * *

Lunchtime came around. Danny joined his friends outside with his lunch tray. He sat down and yawned half listening the conversation that was taking place at the table.

"I got told that if I don't bring my math up a grade my parents are gonna get called" Tucker complained, "And I don't think I could stand another lecture or- or worse… a technology ban from them"

"Please if you think that's bad I have to do a history essay on Egypt" Sam replied biting into her turf-wich, "On some pharaoh that I can't even remember the name of"

"What about you Danny?" Tucker asked

Danny perked up, "huh?"

"You ok man? You look tired" Tucker commented at his best friend's reaction

"I'm just bored" Danny replied, "And Mr. Lancer gave me an essay to do on bacteria"

"Thrilling" Sam said dully

"I've got a feeling this is going to be a long day" Danny sighed, "Even I wish a ghost attacked the school or something"

"Speaking about ghosts did you hear that Valerie went to a camp for two weeks" Tucker changed the subject

"Camp?" Danny repeated

"I'll bet it's a ghost hunting training camp," Sam said darkly

"Camp? In the middle of a school term?" Danny blinked

Tucker shrugged, "Yeah. Apparently someone is sponsoring her or something"

"Ghost hunting training camp" Sam confirmed

"You don't know that" Danny defended half-heartedly

"Hello, camp in the middle of school term and anonymous funding… doesn't it sound at least one bit suspicious?"

Danny shrugged, "S'pose-"

"Come on Sam! Who in their right mind would hold a Ghost Hunting Training Camp, let alone go to one?" Tucker snorted

"Um a certain rich man that has a thing against Danny and is the mayor of this town" Sam pointed out

"Hmm… good point" Tucker said offhand

"Can I sit with you guys?" a voice asked interrupting him.

Danny looked over to see the foster kid beside the table, staring at them with large blue hoping eyes.

"Sure" Sam replied straight away her eyes lighting up in greeting.

Daniel smiled and took the seat next to Danny. Danny ignored the kid and picked at his food.

The foster kid pushed his glasses back up, "Thanks"

"What assignment did you get?" Tucker asked referring to the earlier group conversation eating a piece of meat

"Same as Danny's" Jackson replied quietly, "Science isn't one of my strong points. I wish I had Ancient History or something like that"

"I've got one that is on Eygpt" Sam mentioned

Jackson's eyes lit up through his gold-rimmed glasses, "I know heaps of stuff on Egypt"

"You think you could help me?" Sam asked now interested that she may have help, "It's on a pharaoh… I can't remember his name"

Daniel nodded giving a small smile, "I would love to… if that's ok"

Sam gave a smile back seeing the foster kid looking more enthusiastic and happy. Danny noticed the exchange and looked darkly at the foster kid under his sleep ridden eyes. Tucker stole glances at all three of them and decided to break up the secret staring.

"Erh by any chance are you good at math too?" he asked Jackson

Daniel blinked at Tucker and shrugged, "I can get by. You got a math assignment?"

Tucker nodded pushing his own dark rimmed glasses up.

"I'll help you guys if you help me and Danny since he has the same assignment as me" Jackson bargained

"No thanks" Danny stood up without looking at anyone, "I can do my own assignment, myself"

With that Danny left the table leaving his food tray behind.

Jackson diverted his eyes to the food in front of him his excitement and earlier enthusiasm gone.

Sam saw the reaction and frowned feeling a bit angry and a bit embarrassed for Danny at the same time. She opened her mouth.

"Don't worry about it Sam" Daniel interrupted her plainly, "I know that he doesn't like me and I can accept that. I'm use to it"

"Well it doesn't mean you have to put up with it!" Sam growled

Daniel shook his head still looking at his plate of food, "Don't worry about it. I'm fine"

* * *

Danny walked home by himself. Well not entirely. The foster kid was hanging back a couple of meters away. He didn't care, ever since the foster kid showed up everything seemed to be wrong. He tried to be nice to the guy but he just threw it back in his face by being nosy and rude. He didn't know what his family or Sam sees in him. He's just a kid crying out for attention.

He fights off ghosts without getting paid and without so much as a 'thank you' then some kid shows up being rude and always asking questions. Not to mention ghosts show up one kicking his butt shouting his name. He never asked for any of this. He never asked for his powers or the life he was thrust into. And yet he was expected to carry a burden, the burden of keeping the peace.

He especially never made a decision for a foster brother. That decision was mainly a family decision, a decision that didn't include him.

Anger flooded his mind and he could feel his eyes glow and he knew they would be glowing green. Realizing this he closed his eyes to try and calm himself before opening them back up to reveal his baby blue pupils.

"Man maybe I need a vacation," Danny muttered running his hand through his hair

He sighed. Suddenly a chill went up his spine and a wisp of cold air escaped his mouth.

"Oh no"

Then he remembered his foster brother behind him. He looked around his eyes alert for the ghost to make an appearance but still nothing suddenly sprang up declaring their presence. Another shiver ran up his spine and he gasped. He looked around wildly trying to find the ghost that was causing his Ghost Sense to go off.

He shivered as another icy chill shot up his spine. His teeth started to chatter as he suddenly felt cold. He realized that it was perhaps his ice powers were building up again. He hadn't full master his new ability and remembering what Frostbite taught to him he decided he needed to expel some ice power. With a quick glance at Daniel behind him he ran off into a nearby alleyway, quietly chattered his motto and transformed into his ghost half.

Daniel saw Danny stop as if he was alert, shiver then ran off into an alleyway. Curious as always the foster kid closed the distance and peered into the dark and narrow passage to find…

Nothing.

Daniel frowned as he searched for the Fenton kid. The alley was a dead end as well and there was nothing Danny could climb on, or any doors that was another exit to the alley. He just disappeared…

Like a ghost.

_Curiouser and curiouser, _he chided to himself. The Fenton boy was defiantly acting and being weird. Feeling like he would find nothing more here he turned and continued his way home. The wheels in his mind were turning with thoughts, questions and theories.

With that he decided to drop by the public library if he could find it...

* * *

Danny flew over the familiar skies of his home town. A smile grew on his lips as he felt the rush of the wind whip through his white hair, the feeling of weightlessness and freedom. When he was soaring he could think of nothing else but the joy of the flight. His mind cleared and for a little while, forgetting about school, about his friend and family troubles, about ghosts and other troubles that seem to find him.

Up here those things didn't matter. The sun set behind the land beyond, as clouds reflected the orange glow.

His fantasy shattered with another shiver up his spine.

He paused and looked around expecting a ghost to show or some paranormal trouble being made. His green eyes scanned the earth below but nothing was out of place. He shivered as a wisp of breath escaped his lips and he shivered. He almost forgotten he had to exorcise his ice powers that suddenly seemed to threaten to freeze his core.

It was the reason he was up here in the first place. He went to the outskirts of Amity Park where the vast flat lands awaited him. With glowing blue eyes, he channelled his ice power to his hands and shot out ice beams. He practiced different attacks and even tried to make different shapes with the ice he formed. It was a type of training Danny developed after he was told that he needed to use these powers regularly.

After his training session, feeling his powers were spent and the skies darkening, he turned and headed off home. He felt unusually drained today knowing something like this wouldn't zap his energy so quickly. Shrugging it off as a lack of sleep he continued his way ignoring the fog of a headache that threatened to cloud his mind. He reached an alleyway near his home and changed back to his human form.

Another chill shot up his spine and he gasped and shivered. Now knowing it couldn't be his ice powers since they were recently spent he looked around warily trying to pinpoint the ghost.

Silence met his questioning gaze. Wondering if his Ghost Sense was wrong he walked out the alley looking around with his baby blue eyes. He continued his way home shouldering his pack that he had carried since he left school, still looking around.

Another shiver shot up his spine with such intensity his gasp was accompanied but a cry of shock. Danny stumbled at the split second event as if someone had hit him from behind. Danny turned looking around wondering if a ghost was playing tricks with him.

"Come out! I know you're out there somewhere" Danny growled angrily preparing himself to change back to his ghost form

His body shivered as another chill shot up his spine with more ferocity. The sudden chill felt like someone had pushed him and he clumsily stumbled forward onto his knees. It didn't help that he felt like all his energy was drained.

He didn't understand, he just spent his ice powers so there would be no build up. There was no ghost that he could see. _So why was this happening?_

A headache that threatened came with full force. It felt like an ice-cream headache but a hundred times worse.

"Danny!" a voice called

Chattering he forced himself to his feet before he could feel any worse. Hands grasped him as he swayed a little.

"Danny, are you ok?"

Danny pried one eye open to see Daniel Jackson looking at him with genuine concern on his face.

"What happened?" Daniel asked, "You just disappeared"

Danny didn't answer as another shiver raked his body. Daniel frowned knowing it wasn't that cold to warrant shivers. Taking in the state he found his foster brother in he would guess he was coming down with something.

"I'm fine" Danny mumbled trying to pull away to walk on his own

But Daniel held fast, "You can't pull that trick on me, I do that all the time. Maybe I should take you to the hospital or something"

Danny's eyes went wide with panic and then quickly shut them when his headache protested with the dying light.

"No, no hospital" Danny pleaded fearing for his secret, for his ghost half to be exposed, "Just take me home"

The plea bypassed his defences and cut to Daniel's core. Daniel didn't know why but he knew he had to help this kid, even if they didn't really liked each other. There was almost desperation in Fenton's voice that made Jackson to take pity and made him worry.

Feeling uncomfortable with these emotions he always try to detach himself from, Daniel shouldered the raven haired boy and began the slow walk home.

* * *

To Be Continued...

Oh no what's happening to Danny? Things don't look too good.

Please review! Pretty please with all your favourate stuff on top! I just like to know what you think! Feedback is always welcomed.


	6. Ghost Attack!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed... and story alerted. To those who story alert, don't be afraid to review! ;)

* * *

**Tuesday**

Jackson observed Danny from his position across the dining table. Danny looked much better than he did when he found him yesterday. He was coming from the public library when he found the Fenton kid on his knees and trying to stand up. He really looked pale and sick. Jackson almost regretted not taking him to the hospital but seeing him this morning picking at his breakfast put his mind a little at ease.

When they got home last night, Danny immediately asked to be taken upstairs. Daniel complied knowing he needed to lie down. Once Fenton was settled Daniel went to go and get his parents but Danny pleaded for him not to tell his parents and that he was fine, just really tired. Daniel wasn't happy but honoured his wishes. Relief crossed his face and he fell into a deep slumber shivering a little. Daniel sighed and pulled his covers over the boy before leaving him alone for the night.

Jackson was beginning to become concerned more than curious. _Why was this kid trying to hide his sickness? Where did he disappear to? Did something happen to him?_

Daniel sighed feeling angry. He promised himself not to care, not to get involved with the homes he was placed in. He was moved around too often to form bonds and emotional ties to anything. He wound up getting hurt and rejected. Perhaps it was a shock to see the Fenton kid so sick looking plus his unusual behaviour kept nagging at him.

Danny picked at his food not feeling hungry. His headache was dull and his shivering has stopped at least for now. He didn't understand what was happening. He had to think it was probably being caused by a ghost… perhaps his Ghost Sense was trying to tell him something…

Fenton knew he probably had to explain his actions last night. He had been thinking what to say to the foster kid. He saw how worried Daniel was last night and wondered how bad he looked because he certainly felt like crap.

Danny looked up to see a suspicious ocean blue stare. Danny glared back at the foster kid with his own baby blue eyes. They both sat there silently glaring at each other.

_What are you staring at!? _Danny shot

_Why are you acting all suspicious!?_ Daniel shot back

Jazz walked into the kitchen breaking the spell when she yawned, "Morning"

Danny and Daniel looked away from each other and concentrated on trying to finish their breakfast.

Jazz blinked at the quiet table before her, "Did I miss something?"

* * *

Jackson knew this week of school was going to be a pointless and boring venture. It was already Tuesday and he really thought about skipping school. He just made the first mistake when entering school. Don't be too smart. He knew most of the stuff they taught in this year anyway so he naturally answered almost everything. If he wasn't answering he was doodling on a piece of paper bored out of his skull.

He hated being really smart. He knew he was a quick study and all that but in a normal school setting like this he could never fit in. If it weren't for Danny's friends Sam and Tucker he would be a complete loner by now.

He didn't think anyone caught on how smart he really was and he wanted it to remain that way. He wanted to fit in the best way he could. Usually bullies would target him to do their homework and assignments if they knew so he was glad no one had caught on yet.

He told the social services that he knew all this stuff they taught in school already but he was usually ignored. So all he did was ace his tests and get all the bully beatings or blackmail. So as usual he was left to fend for himself.

"Hey Daniel" Sam greeted as she left her class and met the foster kid in the hall

He closed his locker and looked at Sam, "Hi"

"Thanks for helping me with my history assignment yesterday"

He had helped Sam with her assignment yesterday afternoon at the library where they had good access to books. She was well intentioned but she kept asking about his previous foster homes. He never felt really comfortable talking about anything from his previous homes. The good times he always longed for and the bad times he wished to forget. All this stuff he wanted to put behind him so he could continue.

"It's nothing" the foster kid shrugged, blushing at the compliment, "Egyptology is my specialty. My dad loved Egypt and always wanted to discover it's past…"

He didn't know why he just mentioned his father. He very rarely mentioned his parents.

"Was you dad famous?" she asked

"Not really. He was well known in the community though," he said

Maybe he talked about his father because he felt comfortable with Sam. Even if she was a Goth he felt like he wasn't going to be judged or laughed at. He was still guarded but relaxed.

"It's been a long time since I've talked about him" he said quietly

Sam gave a smile.

"Hey, it's the new kid!" a tall blond haired jockey, wearing a red jacket and blue pants approached them. He recognised him from class.

"Hey man do you know what time it is?" a black haired guy asked, dressed in the same red jacket. Daniel assumed that they were friends.

"Yeah!" the blond haired guy towered over Jackson, "It's wedgie time!"

"No seriously, what's the time?" his black haired friend was freaking out a bit

"Dude, get a watch" the blond guy scolded

Daniel gasped as the quarterback towered over him.

* * *

Danny yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He felt extremely tired today. After being basically dragged home last night, he felt slightly better. He wasn't shivering but he still had a dull ache in his head.

"Are you ok dude? You look terrible" Tucker commented as they walked into school

Danny gave a yawn, "I just feel a bit off today"

"Is it serious?" Tucker asked as he pulled out his PDA

"Nah" Danny shrugged, "Probably the flu or something"

Tucker started to shift his focus to the device in front of him. Danny gave another yawn before looking around.

"Hey, where's Sam?"

Danny expected a reply but none came. He turned to Tucker to find him completely engrossed in his device.

"Tucker? Are you even listening to me?" Danny snapped feeling grumpy

Tucker kept his eyes glued to the screen, "What was that?"

Danny growled and snatched the PDA away from him.

"Hey! Give that back!" Tucker protested and grabbed for it

"It's the only way I can get your attention" Danny snapped before looking at the screen, "Is that Bethany Barks?"

Tucker nodded, "Yep. I'm playing a live performance she did in New York. Isn't she hot?"

Danny saw the blond haired girl dressed in hot pink leather suit, revealing and confronting body parts.

"If she's singing why there is no sound coming from this thing?" Danny asked lightly shaking the device

Tucker just looked at him as if his friend was stupid, "Duh, you watch her with no sound. Everyone knows that her music's terrible"

He grabbed the PDA back as Danny shook his head, "If her music is so terrible why people like her? Or why are you going to see her live performance on Sunday?"

"Please tell me you're not that clueless" Tucker lifted an eyebrow

Danny blinked back.

"Wait, don't answer that" Tucker replied

"You worry me sometimes Tucker" Danny eyed his best friend warily

"Says the kid who has ghost powers" Tucker retorted

They continued down the hall as Tucker continued his viewing with his PDA safely in his possession.

"It's wedgie time!"

Danny's ears pricked at Dash's tone. His immediate instinct was to turn and walk the other way but he saw Dash's intended victim, his new foster brother. His protective nature got the best of him and he ran towards the scene.

"Leave him alone Dash," a Danny defended

Jackson turned to find Danny approaching with Tucker behind him and then looked at the blond haired guy in front of him. _This is Dash? Dash Baxter?_

"Oh and what are you going to do about it Fen-turd?" Dash challenged

Danny was in front of the foster kid by now but he seemed to lost a bit of his nerve, not sure what to do next. Daniel felt annoyed. He didn't need anyones help, he could do fine on his own like he always did.

"I was just fine until you showed up" Jackson snapped

Danny turned around completely surprised, "What?"

"I don't need your help. I'm fine"

"Going to get beaten by Dash doesn't classify as 'fine'" Danny snapped

"So? Who says I _was_ going to get beaten?" Daniel said defensively

"Well _excuse_ me for helping you!" Danny growled feeling once again unappreciated

"I didn't need your help in the first place," Jackson said stubbornly, "If I did I would ask for it"

"Everything I do seem to be always wrong to you!" Danny yelled, "Well sorry for breathing!"

"Um excuse me" Dash interrupted, "I believe I was about to give someone a wedgie"

"Can't you see I'm having a family moment here?" Danny snapped

Suddenly Dash grabbed Danny by his shirt pulling him close. Danny suddenly regretted his outburst.

"I don't care about your needs Fenton. I only care about mine. And I _need_ to give _someone_ a wedgie!"

"Erh…"

Suddenly Danny gasped as the familiar chill shot up his spine and blue whisper of breath came out.

"Uh, oh…good timing though"

Suddenly the school erupted with noise as people started running down the hall, screaming. Everyone ran towards the exit as a green ghost and a blue ghost appeared. It was the ghosts that appeared before Danny on two sperate occasions on Sunday. Today they were both here wailing and attacking.

Dash got the good sense to drop his intended victim and run. Daniel stood there frozen and fixated by what he saw. He never seen a ghost before and suddenly two came out of nowhere, attacking people, making objects fly and causing chaos. Daniel's mouth opened in shock as he witnessed the supernatural phenomenon before him.

Danny turned to his friends and commanded, "Get Daniel out of here!"

They both nodded and grabbed the boy and ran towards the exit along with all the other terrified teens. Danny stayed behind and stared at the two ghosts who now stopped since no one else was left to terrorize.

"Going ghost!" he yelled as two rings appeared changing his appearance in a cool and dramatic way.

"PAIN!!!!" they both screamed, "DANIEL!"

"Ok, that's getting old" Danny flew up ready to fight, "Have you guys considered a catch phrase or something?"

The ghosts ignored him and charged down the hall, right past him.

"Hello! I'm right here! It's me you want… right?" Danny flew off after them

The couple exited the building and dived into the fleeing students with Danny hot on their tail. Danny pushed his weakness aside and focused on quickly dealing with the ghosts so he could get school over and done with and go to bed.

Jackson couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene and the new arrival of the white haired kid. He felt like he'd seen the kid before but this was the first time he actually saw him.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny grabbed the male ghost with thick glasses and mop top hair and punched the ghost

Sam and Tucker pulled Daniel along knowing they needed to get the foster kid out of there, to let their friend to do his job and to keep the secret.

"Where's Danny?" Daniel asked

"He's up ahead" Sam lied, "Let's go"

Elsewhere the female ghost was else where creating havoc. She blasted blue Ectoplasm at the people below. She screeched before diving down and grabbing Dash.

"PAIN!" she cried, "SUFFER!"

"AHHHH! Please don't hurt me!" Dash whimpered

The ghost floated over to a nearby trashcan and dumped the jockey into the garbage. Then closed the lid tipped the can on its side and kicked it sending it rolling down the hill. She laughed showing her sickly pointy teeth.

Meanwhile the male ghost and Danny were locked into a fight, a hand-to-hand combat that Danny had a hard time trying to defend himself. Feeling lethargic due to his energy drain from yesterday Danny could dodge most of the punches but the male ghost seemed to land quite a few blows. In other words Danny was getting most of the hits. It was bad enough his body was sore from two days ago, not to mention he wasn't feeling well.

The grounds were cleared of people by now except for three. Jackson had stopped. His curious nature got the best of him and he started to watch and observe.

"Come on we've got to go" Tucker cried

"Who's that?" Jackson pointed to the white haired boy

"That's Danny Phantom. He's the town's ghost hero and number one ghost fighter," Sam said a little too boastfully

Daniel would have scoffed if he wasn't seeing this for himself. He understood why the Fentons were here. It looked like this was a common occurrence in this town.

The two ghosts were exchanging blows and steadily the male ghost got the upper hand. Danny was thrown against the wall while the male ghost came in and hit Danny in the gut. He keeled over in pain as he fell to the ground. Daniel gasped as the strange white-haired boy struggled to get up. Sam and Tucker were trying to pull him away but he wouldn't budge.

"We got to go now!" Sam tugged just wanting to get the boy away so she could help Danny

Sam grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him away. Finally he allowed himself to be pulled along but his eyes were glued to the scene before him.

Danny recovered quickly but pretended to let his guard down. The ghost attacked. Danny gave a smirk and at the last second pulled out the thermos and activated it. Realizing it was too late the ghost was sucked in.

"This time stay in the Ghost Zone" Danny caped the device and gave a smirk, "Now for the other one…"

Jackson stopped running and tore away again as he witnessed the ghost being captured. Sam and Tucker caught up with him. Then suddenly a shape formed in the air in front of them. It slowly formed into a woman. She was beautiful with a red bandanna keeping her blond-brown hair from her face, large glasses circled her blue eyes, and she wore a shoulder padded blue blouse with jean overalls on the top. She would look completely normal if it wasn't for her pale blue skin.

"Whoa, talk about being out of date" Tucker commented, "I never liked retro 80's"

"Daniel" the woman said softly

Jackson stared mesmerized at the ghost, "No…way"

The ghost came closer almost face to face. Then suddenly she screamed as a black blur came across and knocked the ghost away.

"Leave him alone!" Danny cried before pointing the open thermos at the female ghost

"Nooooo!" As a blue light was enveloping her she shrieked, "DANIEL!"

Danny capped the thermos with a sigh of relief, "I hope that's the last that we see of those two"

"No! Wait!" Daniel seemed to snap out of his state, "Where did she go?"

"Don't worry I've got them" Danny reassured him bent over puffing like he ran a marathon, shaking the thermos, "You better get home"

The foster child made a grab for the thermos "Let them go!"

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Danny snapped pulling the device away, "They're dangerous!"

Daniel just stared at the ghost child then glared at him. Quickly taking in the details of his clothing. It was black and white with a logo on his chest and also had snow-white hair, pale face and neon green eyes.

Danny growled and flashed his green eyes in annoyance and anger. Startled Daniel blinked and stepped back not knowing how to take the spectral being before him.

"Danny" Sam hissed a warning

Danny ignored her, "These ghosts just attacked the school and put a lot of people at risk and you want me to release them?"

Daniel shook his head his mind trying to comprehend the events before him. Sadness glazed his eyes that made Danny's stare falter and wonder what was going on in the foster kid's head.

"Look-"

Suddenly Daniel snapped his defences up and glared furiously at the ghost boy

"ARGH! I hate you!" the boy snapped before he turned and ran off.

"What else is new?" Danny muttered

"Wait!" Sam yelled after him but he continued running.

"What was that about?" Danny asked when the foster child was far away enough

Then Danny felt something smack into the back of his head, "Ow!" he turned to Sam, "What was that for?"

"What the hell was that?" Sam scowled

"What!?" Danny snapped, "He's the one who's always trying to pick a fight with me!"

"He never seen a ghost before, you idiot!" Sam growled, "Cut him some slack!"

Danny looked startled as he forgotten that the kid wasn't familiar with the paranormal occurrences that appeared around here. The adrenalin left his system and he suddenly felt weak and tired. He changed back as shivers raked him once more.

Feeling guilty, annoyed and drained he turned away.

"Dude are you ok?" Tucker asked looking how Danny suddenly became pale and was shivering

"I-I'm f-fine" He stammered before leaving the school grounds with one dire in mind, sleep.

He didn't see the worried looks his two best friends were giving him.

* * *

To be continued...

What's wrong with Danny? Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	7. Sudden Complications

A/N: Sorry about the late posting, I almost forgot (blushes)

Thanks for your reviews! I appreciate the feedback. Thanks also to the story alerters... don't forget you can review as well ;)

* * *

Daniel Jackson ran and ran until finally he had to stop. Breathless tears formed at the corner of his eyes. Millions of questions raced through his mind, mainly questions about the ghost who appeared right in front of him.

Her face was so familiar that he didn't know if he should really believe what he saw- who he saw.

He sniffed trying to stop the emotions form rising, trying to stop the tears that threatened to spill from the realization.

"Mom? Was that really you?" he whispered

Since his parents left him alone he never cried. He mourned for them but since then he never cried. Not even once. He promised himself he would never cry, he would always be strong and make it on his own. He had to if he was to survive alone.

Then he saw his mother there, in front of him calling his name with sad longing eyes. After for so long she was there… right in front of him. He could almost touch her…

Then that white-haired kid had to take her away. Who was that white haired kid anyway?

_That's Danny Phantom. He's the town's ghost hero and number one ghost fighter_

Daniel hugged his torso and bit his lip, his mind filled with images of his parents. Emotions rose at these memories, at the ghost of his mother. New hot tears threatened to spill, his defences were crumbling. He desperately held on trying to detach himself again, to feel numb and not to feel emotions because they were mainly made up of loss, sadness, rejection and anger. He couldn't feel that way because he needed to survive so his own soul won't fall to pieces.

Furious with himself he brushed his eyes and his sadness was replaced by his usual anger. He remembered that white-haired boy was carrying a thermos that was similar to what the Fenton kid had put on the table in the lab two days ago. He knew that these two people were connected some how and that Fenton kid was hiding something. If it had something to do with the appearance of his mother then he had to know. He had to find out what was going on.

With that he started to walk back home.

**

* * *

****Wednesday**

"Danny?" a worried voice called

Danny grumbled

"Danny?" the voice called again

Danny swallowed finding his throat painfully sore. He cracked open an eye. His blurry vision focused to reveal his mom standing over him.

A cool hand pressed against his forehead.

"Oh dear you're burning up" her voice was concerned, "Defiantly no school for you today"

That suited Danny fine. He felt so tired…

"Danny" she called again, "How are you feeling?"

Danny groaned feeling sore all over, "Like a spaceship landed on me"

Maddie raised her eyebrows at his strange reference. Now she was really worried.

"Go to sleep honey" she said softly caressing his sweaty face

Danny didn't need to be told twice because he did just that.

* * *

Daniel decided to skip school today. He wasn't in the mood to sit through boring lessons and deal with the school bully. He left the house as usual. He found himself checking up on the Fenton kid when he realized he wasn't up. Maddie was all over him like a mother hen and a doctor; taking his temperature, probing his body with her firm but gentle fingers for anything abnormal and making her son as comfortable as possible. 

Jackson felt a pang of envy but quickly drove it away knowing it was stupid and selfish. He caught sight of Jazz looking at her baby brother with great worry. She asked her mom what was wrong and Maddie shook her head. She guessed it was the flu, and that he needed rest and plenty of fluids. Daniel debated if he should tell them how he found Danny the other day but decided against it remembering how desperate Danny sounded.

Daniel decided to explore the town today. He knew he wouldn't be in Amity Park very long so he decided to take in the sights and sounds, hopefully trying to forget the ghosts from yesterday's school. There was nothing much to see and in the end he grew bored.

Lunch time came about so he headed towards Amity Park, which was coincidentally the name of the town as well. He was starved by this time and sat under the shade to eat. He packed a lunch since he knew he was skipping school today and didn't want to go back home and get into trouble.

"Four more days" Daniel sighed thinking about his time with the Fentons and his curse about being removed in one week's time, "Perhaps I'll be granted an extra week this time, unless Danny convinces his parents I'm evil or something"

It became more apparent in the past few months that every home he had been to he only stayed for a week before being asked to leave and again had to be removed by social services. He never understood it. They were good people and good homes. Nothing was wrong except for the usual trying to fit in. On the sixth and seventh day he would get strange looks or fearful looks from the family he would stay with and eventually get asked to leave. Once a foster mother was in such a panic she shut him out on the sixth night.

He didn't know why this was happening but he knew it would happen with the Fenton family.

Jackson lay back on the grass; his mind swirled with events and questions from the past few days. This week had been the most eventful and the weirdest in his life. When he first got here he scoffed at the idea of a ghost's existence but now after yesterday's school attack he would believe it. He just never realized that there could be other realms and places out there filled with many possibilities. One day he would love to go to different places beyond imagination and explore what secrets they held.

His train of thought drifted to questions about those ghosts, about Danny and most of all about his parents. He wanted answers but there weren't many to go around.

A light breeze brushed his face and he closed his eyes in remembrance of his mother.

"Daniel I presume?" a male voice addressed as a silhouette towered above him  
Daniel blinked and sat up putting up his attitude, "Who wants to know?"

There stood before him a man aged about late 30's to 40's with greying hair. He wore a sharp black suit and a superior look on his face.

"Hello Daniel, I'm Vlad Masters, Mayor of this pitiful- erh I mean wonderful little town"  
"How do you know me?" Jackson asked defensively  
"Jackson. Your father was Dr. Melbourne Jackson, a great archaeologist. I sympathise with your loss" he stated plainly not showing much sympathy  
Daniel blinked his blue eyes wide, "You… you knew my father?"  
Vlad gave a sly grin, "Unfortunately not. Let's say my field of work never met his. I heard about them in the newspaper. A great tragedy, really"

Daniel hugged himself again desperately trying to quell the emotions that threaten to consume him. Vlad merely raised his eyebrow but his face remained in its superior state.

"You don't belong here Daniel" he simply stated  
Daniel frowned, "What do you mean?"  
"You're a smart child and you are the son of two well known scientists" Vlad explained, "You could become something greater, something that could change the world forever"  
The boy scoffed, "No one cares. I won't have money to ever go into college and study and do what I want"  
"I hate to see such potential wasted. I would gladly put you into a school for geniuses and pay for your college education"  
Daniel looked at the stranger suspiciously, "What's the catch?"  
"Only if you can prove yourself then I can get you out of the system and get you educated and even adopted. No more moving around, no more low level schooling and have a proper family and a normal life"

Daniel stared at the stranger wide-eye not believing what he was hearing. _A normal life?_

Vlad gave a smile satisfied he had the boy interested, "If you translate this for me then I'll consider your education and perhaps adopt you as my own"

Vlad handed him a stone tablet with strange symbols etched into it. Daniel blinked in disbelief and stared at the man.

"Where did you get this?"  
"Let's just say it's a hobby of mine" Vlad said slyly  
"There is no way I can translate that!"  
"You learned a few languages when you were young did you not?" Vlad asked  
Daniel frowned wondering how much does this guy knew about him, "Just picked some things up but I never actually learnt to read or write other than English"  
"I have faith in you Daniel" Vlad stared down at him, "You should too. I know that you can find a way to translate this"

Daniel stood up and took the stone tablet, knowing it was a ticket out of the social system cycle; a way to achieve his dreams and take after his parents… to have a normal life.

"Why are you asking me?" Daniel asked suspiciously  
"Because my boy, I think your father may have encountered the writing before and he was on to something. If anyone can crack this code, you can. Consider this as a challenge"

With that Vlad walked away and soon disappeared into a limo. Daniel stared at the tablet taking all the information in. A stranger was willing to give him a chance… to translate chicken scratches. He wondered how important this was to the old man if the old man was willing to take him under his wing.

With a new sense of purpose Daniel carefully placed the stone tablet in his pack and ran off to the library.

* * *

_Danny moaned as he curled in a foetal position wishing he could die. His head was burning and yet he was cold like he was in the middle of a blizzard. He was pale and had already spilled contents of his stomach and had already gone into dry retching. He felt so tired he could sleep for a thousand years and he couldn't even bring himself to open his eyes. He knew it would make his migraine much worse, even if all his curtains were shut._

"_How is he?"_

_Voices drifted around him._

"_I thought this was the flu but I don't think so"  
_"_Here Danny I brought you some water, please drink up, you need plenty of fluid since you've got fever"  
_"_I'll bet a ghost has done this to Danny!"  
_"_DAD!"_

_They felt so near and yet so far away in his mind._

"_He's gotten worse"  
_"_Maybe we should take him to the hospital"  
_"_The hospitals can't do anything if its ghost related. I'll bet some sick ghost has given our son a virus!"  
_"_Mom I think we should take him to a hospital"  
_"_His symptoms are unusual. I can even see his breath every time he exhales. Jack prepare the lab, we're gonna find out what's wrong with our boy!"_

* * *

Daniel gaped at the sight before him. He came home from his day to find Danny still lying thein his bed since this morning. His mother came in fussing over him and then suddenly he moaned and tried to fight off an unknown attacker. Maddie was beside herself not knowing what to do until Danny screamed. 

_Danny's mind drifted then he saw the two ghosts that were haunting the town recently. He saw them staring at him with their red eyes, grinning with their sickly pointy teeth, their claw like hands started to tear at him, tear at his flesh._

"_No…" he moaned feeling their claws rip his clothes and slash his skin._

_He felt weak, he didn't have the energy to transform, to even create a spark from his fingertips._

"_No…"_

_They kept laughing, growling clawing. He raised his hands to defend himself. He tried to grab their wrists to stop them but nothing worked. He willed his body to move, to get away from them before he was a bloody mess._

"_Get away!" his mind screamed but his voice cried weakly_

_It was no use; they were right there covered in his own blood. Pain lit his whole nerve system on fire. He screamed, trying desperately to get away, for them to stop but he was too weak. He could do nothing against the horrible hot pain that made his whole body throb. It was unbearable wishing it went away._

Danny's voice was filled with so much pain that it made him cringe. Maddie was now hysterical with worry and panic. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what was causing her own son such pain. It was unbearable to watch. Jazz and Jack ran in also shocked at the sight before them.

Then Danny stopped and was quiet for a while. Daniel thought he might have passed out until Maddie looked to Jack with eyes full of concern and fear that it made Daniel's heart plummet.

"He's cold"

There was stunned silence as Danny laid there unmoving. Daniel couldn't believe it as shock overwhelmed him.

"He's cold Jack" Maddie's eyes were full of anguish and tears

_Cold…_

Nothing was said.

Daniel head Jazz sobbing hysterically and he saw Jack move towards Maddie. Daniel couldn't believe it… it couldn't end like this… this had to be a dream, an extremely cruel dream. He just met the kid… even if they didn't get along, he couldn't just be… gone.

_Gone…_

* * *

_To be continued..._

Oh no! It looks like Danny's sickness took a turn for the worst! I don't even know how he could come back from this one...  
Looks like Vlad is involved as well meaning he's up to something, something with a priceless strange tablet...  
Stay tuned to find out!

Reviews are greatly appreciated! (puppy dog eyes)


	8. Curses!

A/N: I'm really sorry for the late update. Its a little shorter than previous chapters but I don't wanna rush things (otherwise it turns out crappy). Thanks for your reviews, alerts and faves. I really appreciate the feedback!

Enjoy!

* * *

Daniel clenched his jaw embracing for the emotions of grief and loss. And they did come. Not as strong as it would be with his family but he did know the kid and for the kid to just…

Then he saw his body move. Daniel blinked wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He stared hard then Danny's body shook.

Daniel stared then reached out to touch him. He layed his hand on his arm but yelped. He turned over his palm to find it red, raw and blistering as if he just put it on a hotplate.

Except it wasn't from extreme heat but from extreme cold.

He clutched hand in pain seeing his skin had suffered second degree burn. Danny's parents were relieved that their son hadn't died after all, not all hope was lost.

To his amazement, Danny's skin was so pale and blue that flakes of ice appeared, his hair gathered icicles and his whole body violently shook in protest. He looked like someone had stuffed him in a freezer

His parent's cries of momentary joy were lost when Danny wheezed and choked. Struggling to breath against the strange phenomenon of his body was going through.

_His body slowly went numb and then he started to shiver. Icy chills shot painfully up his spine as his body core fell lower and lower until he was having hard time breathing. He gasped as he could feel his lungs seize. As his chest froze, he grasped and choked, fighting for air. It was hard when the very air he breathed froze in his lungs._

"DANNY!" Maddie cried

"_M-m-m" he tried to respond, try to tell her where he was, that he needed help, that he didn't want to die_

"Hold on!" her voice was hysterical

_He tried to open his eyes but they were glued shut, he tried to raise his arm but they were heavy as lead. All he could do was pathetically lie there, helpless and suffocating like a fish out of water_.

"M-m-m-om" He rasped feeling hot tears prick in the corner of his eyes.

Maddie was in hysterics. Jack left and Jazz was beyond comprehension. Daniel just stared at a lost of what to do and what was going on around him. The boy in front of him should be dead and yet he was alive and breathing. No human body could survive a temperature like that! He's so cold that he burned his hand!

_Danny didn't want to die, he was in so much pain and he couldn't breathe. Was this how we were supposed to die? He was scared, scared to die. Scared to leave everything he ever known. Sure he was half ghost but he liked it that way. He didn't want to become a full ghost if he did even linger behind. He didn't want see his friends and family knowing he could never be apart of the human world again. He wanted to live life, enjoy it with his family and friends… he didn't want to leave. Not yet._

Jack came back with blankets; he wrapped his son in them and picked him up. Danny seemed to react and shivered slightly less.

_With raw fear he struggled to breathe. He felt something wrap around him, he was too weak to fight; he couldn't even move. He felt strong arms pick him up. They felt so warm. He weakly bathed in their warmth knowing his own human body was now frozen stiff. _

_All that mattered was the warm body. He heaved another breath. Feeling this tears cool and freeze on his cheeks._

Daniel followed the family down stairs to the lab. Jack unwrapped Danny, his gloves on his jumpsuit started to freeze as he picked up his son and placed him in a small shallow tank full of liquid.

_After an eternity the blanket that was wrapped around him was pulled away and he was gently placed in liquid. The liquid was warm. It wasn't hot, or cold… just warm. He lapped it up as he shivered , wondering why the liquid wasn't freezing by now._

Danny chocked then he shivered less. Soon his skin lost the pale blue colour much to his parent's relief. Maddie approached Danny and gently stroked her only son's forehead, brushing his black bangs from his face.

_He felt a gentle hand brushing his forehead. His panic seemed to disappear and he relaxed. His hallucination ceased and he returned to the darkness of his mind. _

He seemed to calm down and drift off into slumber.

So Jackson was here in the lab with the family trying to comprehend what just happened.

_What did just happen?_

"The ghost who has done this will pay!" Jack vowed

Maddie wiped her tears and gratefully sat on a nearby chair. Jazz was doing the same thing shocked and relived at the same time. Silence filled the lab as Jack moved about the lab with anger, picking up various gadgets.

"Jack-"

"No one hurts my family" Jack said firmly as he loaded a gun

Daniel just stared at the large gun. It looked like it came out of a sci-fi movie.

Maddie got up and approached the man. She touched his large arm softly.

"Jack… Danny needs you here. We need you here" Maddie said quietly, "When Danny gets better we can hunt after the ghost together. I want to put a few hold in it myself!"

The reasoning got through to the father and he nodded. He put down the gun and sat down. Daniel winced; he almost forgot his palm was burned as he tried to lean against a table. Maddie seemed to notice and approached the foster child.

Danny automatically tried to hide his hand knowing it wasn't important now but Maddie gently guided the foster child to a chair and grabbed a first aid kit. She inspected the burn with surprise but she got to work in dressing and bandaging the wound.

"What… what happened?" Daniel blurted

Maddie looked at the foster child softly, "I know you won't believe this but Danny has contracted a Ghost Virus"

Daniel stared at the foster mother with shock. He didn't know ghosts could get sick. They were dead after all.

"Ghosts are entities that survive after death through powerful emotions but with some recent discoveries by some ghost encounters we've discovered ectoplasmic viruses" she launched into an explanation be then realized that the foster kid wouldn't understand it

Daniel listened knowing it was probably Maddie's way to cope with the situation that had her in such panic and worry.

Maddie pulled a tight smile, "It's hard to explain right now and even I don't understand it too much myself…" she trailed and he noticed she was trying to keep her emotions together

"Ghosts viruses can only be contacted from ghost to ghost, rarely from ghost to human" Jack filled in, perhaps he was too trying to cope with the situation as well by channelling his focus into something else

Jazz's gasp didn't go unnoticed by Daniel. He turned to the red haired girl as a look of shock came over her face. She immediately turned and left quickly.

Daniel watched the sleeping Fenton in the tank of grey liquid wondering what on earth the boy was submerged in but if he had to take a guess it would be also related to ghosts or what ever science the parents were involved in.

"We've got to find out what virus it is and find a cure in time" Maddie continued her voice shaky, "I don't know how long… how long he can survive it. I don't even know how he could have survived it in the first place…"

She finished wrapping his hand up. Danny almost forgotten he was being treated.

"Thanks" Daniel said quietly

"I- I know this is all a shock" Maddie muttered, "But I understand if you want to leave. I know this is all strange and I know you don't believe in ghosts… so if you want to go, you're more than welcome to"

Daniel's blood drained from his face. It was the curse. The thing that always determines him was leaving in one week. He didn't know why it happened but it did and now it was happening.

He was going to get kicked out… he was going to leave…

He didn't know why he was shocked. It shouldn't be a surprise. Perhaps because it was only been three days or because Danny was impossibly sick, his family was in shock and hysterics and it was his entire fault. If he never had come, if he didn't bring this 'curse' with him then Danny would have been fine, he would be up and around, not lying in a tank of strange liquid. His family would be normal and everything would be normal…

Daniel couldn't help it; he clenched his jaw as waves of rejection hit him. Maddie saw his reaction and slightly panicked.

"Daniel? Are you ok?"

Daniel shook his head, his mask fell revealing a vulnerable face. Maddie's parental instincts took over and she reached out to touch his shoulder but he flinched away, stood up from his chair and ran up both flights of stairs and to his room.

* * *

Jazz was in her room clutching her cellphone. She called Sam and Tucker on three way, biting her lip to quell the fear and shock that she'd experienced earlier.

"Hello?" Sam's voice answered

"Sam" her voice called

Sam sat up in her gothic bed at Jazz's upset tone.

"Jazz… what's wrong?" Sam's voice asked with concern

"Hi guys, what's up" Tucker's voice entered the three way

"Danny-" Jazz had to choke back a sob so she wouldn't burst into tears again.

Sam's heart plummeted to her stomach and her stomach protested making her nausious. From his end Tucker swallowed nervously, his attention was now fully away from his computer, knowing this was serious.

Jazz forced herself to stay together for the conversation. She'd seen Danny go through battles and faced monstrosities beyond comprehension and yet what scared her the most was to see her little brother suffering and defenceless against something unexplainable and uncommon. Ghosts were explainable but Ecto-Viruses were not- at least not until extensive research was done.

She was afraid if they didn't find a cure in time then her brother would…

"Jazz!" Sam practically yelled shaking her out of her thoughts, "What's wrong, what's wrong with Danny?

"He's sick" she blurted

"How sick?" Tucker asked knowing Jazz wouldn't call if it was just some cold

"Really sick" Jazz sniffed then switched to her logical mind, "He showed symptoms of the flu and a fever, then he started to hallucinate and then he started to grow cold…"

"Jazz-"

"He almost froze to death Sam" Jazz sobbed,

Silence.

"_What?_" Sam and Tucker said in unison

"T-thanks to Mom and Dad he's warming up now but…"

"We'll be there soon!" Sam instantly said before her line went dead

"Yeah, see you there" Tucker followed Sam's example and his line went dead

Jazz pulled the phone away from her ear. He didn't know what else to do. She knew she had to call and tell Danny's friends. They had a right to know and it wouldn't be fair if they were left in the dark. They went through this ghost thing longer than she has and they were best friends before that. Jazz felt it was right to let them know, they were practically family.

Jazz let out a shaky breath and continued to sob.

* * *

"Amok nah na'tu" Daniel whispered reading the faded red book that was once his father's journal

_Is this how things are going to end up? Will I bring more pain to this family? Will I bring pain to other unsuspecting families? Is this the life I was meant to live?_

Jackson hugged his torso trying to shut his emotions of hopelessness and rejection out. He never wanted to hurt anyone but it seemed that fate was cruel and Danny was impossibly sick. He knew in his heart that he was the one who caused this, him and his curse. He knew no one would believe him but he knew it to be true. This was the first time someone else other than himself that got hurt and he was scared that it will continue to hurt other people around him.

Daniel glanced over to the tablet that now lay against the wall. He had forgotten about it through the horror of the Fenton boy's condition. He remembered the offer the old mayor-Vlad was it?- had gave him. Maybe if he could work out the writing and impress the man he could get out of the state's care, go to school and be away to stop hurting this family.

It was his only shot.

He crawled over from his seated position on the floor and grabbed the stone tablet carefully.

"I'll fix this... some how"

* * *

To be Continued...

Pretty Review for the pretty Author? Come on! Express yourself give your opinion! Freedom of speech is a funny and great thing...


	9. The Morning After

A/N; I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!!!! I know I should have posted this up ages ago but I've been slack! Gah!! Please forgive me!!! Thanks to those who reviewed. Now my readers, story watchers and reviewers here is the next chapter!

* * *

Vlad sighed as he finished the last of the paper work. Being mayor had its downsides but positions of power always came with responsibility. He rose from his desk and walked over to his liquor tray. From the crystal bottle he poured himself a glass of whiskey and took a sip. He held the glass in the palm of his hand and approached a flat screen TV. He took the remote from his desk and turned it on. 

There appeared Maddie in all her glory in black and white. The odd angle told that the camera that was shooting the footage was hidden and above out of line of sight. Vlad smiled as he sipped his drink and reluctantly 'changed the channel'. Or more precisely change cameras.

Since he came to power as being the mayor be has invested in bugging the Fenton household. He did a free 'house check' and got men to install cameras under the guise of checking the house for structural damages and other council concerns. It was necessary so he could keep an eye on Daniel Fenton (getting a free look at Maddie was a perk) and help himself to pursue his quest for getting what Jack Fenton has; his first love and a son.

He saw Danny in his bed surrounded by his friends.

"Looks like you've gotten worse dear boy, who's going to protect my town now?" he smirked as he took another sip

He had seen Danny show symptoms of sickness yesterday and how rapidly he deteriorated. He 'changed channels' again and saw the newest addition in his room studying the tablet. Vlad half smiled. He saw the day of arrival of the kid and saw that he and Danny never really hit it off. It grew worse as the days past and Vlad merely took advantage of it.

He did a background check and was surprised to find the boy was the son of two well known scientists. How coincidental that he just finished an expedition in the Ghost Zone and 'acquired' an artefact that he couldn't decipher.

Well he did give Daniel Jackson an offer he couldn't refuse. Vlad always knew how to use someone's weakness and he was quite serious of his offer to take Daniel in and send him off to private school. He could have a son, a son who actually hated Daniel Fenton. And if all goes well even 'give' him his own ghost powers.

With that Vlad smirked and sipped his drink.

* * *

**Thursday**

Maddie woke groggily realizing she had fallen asleep at her laptop. Her eyes were stiff with dried tears, her back protested at the movement she was making. Ignoring her stiff muscles she stretched and blinked at the screen seeing a picture of a DNA strand and information next to it.

She remembered that she was up trying to isolate the Ecto-Virus so they can study and hope to find a cure. She knew the odds of finding a cure was slim since they don't know what they were dealing with. She hoped with all her heart it was a virus they've encountered and studied before.

She moved out of the chair checked the time.

"Oh no! I got to get Daniel and Jazz ready for school!" she gasped immediately thinking about her morning routine

Then her mind raced with chores and things to do, things that she would normally have to do throughout the day.

_Those things don't matter. None of it matters when my boy is sick!_ She reminded herself

She rushed past Jack who had fell asleep on the floor and up the basement stairs and into the kitchen. She was shocked to find Jazz in the kitchen cleaning the dishes.

"Hi Mom" Jazz greeted dryly pulling a tight smile, "I've packed mine and Daniel's things for today, and clean the dishes so you don't have to worry about that…"

Maddie smiled and approached her daughter, "Thanks, Jazz. Why don't you go now, I'll finish up"

Jazz nodded, grabbed the packs and left without a word. Maddie sighed she was worried about her family. Jazz was upset and at a lost of what to do, she and Jack were racing to find a cure and her son was sick.

And Daniel?

He was scared out of his mind from last night's event. She saw the fear and pain in his eyes when she was talking about all this to him last night. Maybe taking in a foster child wasn't a good idea. Perhaps they were too weird for other people to handle…

She sighed. She had to concentrate on her job right now and that was to get Danny better. Everything else can be dealt when the time comes. _What was that saying? We'll cross the bridge when we come to it._

Maddie started to do the dishes and saw Jazz leaving with Daniel and also Sam and Tucker trailing behind.

_When did they come? I suppose they were really worried about Danny… I hope their parents won't call me complaining…_

They left without a sound. She could help but feel an air depression. It was heavy and brought silence and weariness. They were all worried about Danny and feared the prospect of actually loosing him…

She finished the dishes, grabbed an apple and headed downstairs to the basement. She had to save her son. It would destroy her is she didn't… it would destroy them all.

(linebreak)

Daniel woke that morning with the tablet on his chest and in a tangle of sheets. It was already eight and he realized he was gonna be late for school…

_School!_

He scoffed and got up. He quickly picked up his pack, shoved a few things as well as the tablet zipped it and opened his door. Only to find Jazz in the hallway.

"You're late for breakfast" was all she said

He blinked and she saw the mask that Jazz put in but it was devoid of emotion. Emotions that he knew she was burying deep inside herself.

"Not hungry" Daniel shrugged

There was a noise to the right of him, he turned and was shocked to find Sam and Tucker leaving Danny's room. They looked like they hadn't had a good night sleep.

"I can't believe I feel asleep in that chair!' Tucker groaned as he stretched his back, "I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home"

Sam shrugged she couldn't careless about what her parents thought, "We better head home before we get to school"

She cast a worried glance to Danny's bedroom in Daniel's view but he knew she was looking at Danny.

"He'll be fine" Jazz reassured, "Mom and Dad are going to be here all day"

Jazz handed Daniel a few things to take with him to school as she shrugged her own pack on her back.

They all collectively in silence headed down the stairs and out the door.

Once outside Jazz turned to Daniel, "Do you want me to give you a lift to school?"

Daniel looked at her and shook his head, "I'm fine" before heading in a direction

"Wait where are you going?" Jazz yelped, "School's the other way"

"I know, I'm not going" he replied before continuing his way

"Wait…" Jazz faltered. She didn't have the energy to reprimand the foster child. She felt so drained lately that she didn't know what to do.

"Let him go" Sam muttered, "I wouldn't go to school either if I could"

"Yeah" Tucker agreed quietly

"Well fine! I'll go myself" Jazz snapped suddenly feeling angry

Sam and Tucker looked at her in surprise as Jazz got into her car and drove away. Sam sighed and turned to head home. Tucker followed to do the same.

* * *

Daniel loved libraries. He loved the old leathered paper smell, he loved how all the knowledge you can want or need is at your fingertips. He loved knowledge. There is a saying that Knowledge is power and he totally agreed with that. Sometimes knowing more than the next person had its advantages and helped him out of a few sticky situations dozens of times. 

He also loved how silent, structured and normal they were unlike his life. He gave a smile to a librarian who only stared back before heading to one of the many shelves. He headed to the system computer and started his search.

Thanks to his father's journal and the translation he knew it was in an ancient language. He hoped it wasn't too dead to find. He searched through the web, papers of different people of different doctrines and peoples his father's journal mentioned.

He knew the language was a mix of Ancient Egyptian and something else. He wanted to find the other language so he could translate the text.

_To get a home and study to be what he wanted to be… and leave the Fenton family alone…_

He shook his head and continued his search. He would translate this text… there was no other option.

* * *

Swirly sky met his eyes. He recognised it to be the familiar surroundings of the Ghost Zone. There were no doors, no large islands or landmark or icons that he could see. It was just a vast empty space of endless green and black swirls. 

Danny jerked himself awake as his mind suddenly registered where he was. He searched his memory wondering how he got here but all he could remember was the cold. He shivered. He looked down and saw he was in his ordinary clothing of white shirt and blue jeans.

Confused as to how he got here he searched for a way to get back to the Fenton Portal, to go home. There was nothing around him, just the emptiness that the ghost zone held which made Danny a little afraid and strangely alone.

"Hello?" he called, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Silence.

Danny decided this was a waste of time and decided to change into his alter ego.

"Ok! I'm going ghost" he announced to no one in particular

Nothing happened.

"Oooookay! I said I'm going ghost!" he announced again squeezing his eyes shut

After a minute he opened them and he still was wearing his casual clothing.

"This is strange…" Danny muttered wondering why he could change into his ghost half

_Is there something wrong with me? Did something happen to me? Why can't I remember? Oh man! I'm lost and stuck in the ghost zone without any powers! How am I going to get home? Every one of my enemies is going to have a field day with this…_

Danny pulled himself away from his thoughts and realized that the green swirls disappeared and it was just darkness. Cold fear washed over him as he was floating into the unknown. He'd never been into this part of the ghost zone before… he could be anywhere and without his powers he was a sitting duck.

**Danny**

He stiffened wondering where that voice had come from.

**Danny**

The voice echoed everywhere, all around him. Danny desperately wanted his powers and metally try to summon Ecto energy to his hand, but nothing came not even a spark.

**It is time**

_Time? Time!_ His mind as in a panic trying to work out what was going on and what to do.

"Clockwork?" he guessed in a small voice

Suddenly two large yellow glowing eyes appeared in front of him. They were huge almost taking in all of the vast empty blackness before him. Danny yelped, his limbs flapping and kicking into air as he tried to get away from the large piercing yellow eyes.

"Whoa! Not Clockwork!" he yelped trying with all his might to summon his ghost powers, anything would help at this point

**It is time**

"Time for what?" Danny cried

**For you to let go.**

Darkness consumed him and he remembered no more.

* * *

To Be Continued… 

Let's just say something's coming for Danny... and I shall put in some more excitment and action in the next chapter (coz I love my action!)  
Sorry about my chapter quality and shortness. Gah! I'm spending most of my time on deviant drawing Danny instead of writing (groans). Im so slack

Anyway please review? Just click that shinny button below and tell me what you really think of me... I mean what you think of the story! Yeah the story!


	10. Ghost Guardian

A/N: Ok so Im posting a little early. I know where im going with this and Im excited so I write. I've writen lots of alternate paths for this story that its not funny but actually the way Im going it actually fits all together! (Yay go me!)

Anonymous Review Responses:

Twisted Truth  
Yeah Danny and Daniel have such unresolved issues... I'm gonna fling them together again and see them fight... well eventually. Danny maybe sick (and possibly dieing) but that doesn't mean they wont intereact with each other... hmm I think I revealed too much. Must shut up now... thanks for reviewing!

SMILE:D  
You have to know Im noutorious for killing characters... but never in the way you expect... and deaths can never be for sure... oops did I say too much? I just love twists... don't you? I can't reassure that Daniel wont like Vlad since Vlad offered him a way out... also I wont take too long. I just realised Im up to the tenth chapter. It takes as long as it takes. Sorry to the million fan girls...  
Thanks for your review!

marissa  
...

I don't get your review (sweat drops) I'm sorry! Please forgive me!!!

So now my fellow fans (of the shows), readers, reviewers and watchers enjoy!

* * *

Danny woke up with a start. He shot up to a sitting position. He realized he was in his own room, in his own bed. With a deep sigh of relief he put his hand to his head.

"It was just a dream"

_All just a horrible dream_.

Danny climbed through his tangled sheets and out of his bed. Surprised to find that he felt fine.

_Maybe my sickness was a dream after all…_

He entered the hallway, silence met his ears. His bare feet padded along the carpet as he slipped downstairs into the living room. Danny suddenly didn't like the silence. Surely by now he would have heard some kind of noise from the kitchen or the basement.

"Mom? Dad?" he paused for an answer before continuing, "Jazz?"

He entered the family room finding it empty, just decorated with the basic familiar furniture. He decided to look in the kitchen and wondered over.

"Hello? Anyone home?" he called

The complete silence was too much to bear. There were no background noises of any kind; no household appliances, no occasional noises from the outside not even the ticking of a clock was heard. It was all too weird. Uneasiness filled his stomach as he brought his guard up. Something was wrong here and he knew someone or something was messing around, messing with him.

On guard he moved towards the last area to check, the lab.

He slowly descended down the stairs; his footsteps seemed to echo in the complete stillness. He tried to ignore it and made his way to the foot of the stairs. He saw a green glow splash the lab equipment and furnishings; he turned to find the Ghost Portal completely open, swirling in its mysterious existence.

Suddenly a tall black figure shadowed and towered over him. Danny gasped as large yellow eyes bore down on him.

* * *

Sam looked dejectedly out of the window not really listening to what the teacher was talking about. How could she concentrate when the seat next to her was empty? Devoid of the life it would've held.

"Life is cruel" she muttered darkly as her thoughts caught up in past events with ghosts and situations right up until this point.

Tucker sat behind her; he too ignored the drone of the teacher. He slouched and laid back as much as he could fiddle around on his PDA. Even his Bethany Barks pictures weren't so appealing anymore not when your best friend is sick and could die…

He gave a sigh wishing he was home or doing something to help Danny out. Doing nothing seemed to be a killjoy. He was glad the day was going to be over soon. He and Sam didn't talk much, only to avoid the painful idea that their friend was gravely sick and they were stuck at school helpless to do anything.

* * *

This was wrong all wrong. Daniel rubbed his eyes for the fifteenth time. He was reading the same text so much that he could still see it behind his eyes. His stomach growled as the empty pit of his stomach ached. He looked at his watch it was four in the afternoon. He blinked wondering where the whole day had gone. He was no closer to finding the answers.

The text looked familiar and yet different. It looked Ancient Egyptian but it was different symbols, nothing was documented in papers or on general internet sites about these strange symbolling. The only known translation was in his father's journal.

Hunger, stress and tiredness gnawed at him so he decided to head off home and take a closer look at his father's journal again. He could find no more here than he did today. Looks like no one discovered what his father was on or they were trying to discover the secret for themselves… what ever it was the bottom line that he was getting nowhere fast.

With that he packed up his gear and headed off home.

* * *

Danny's mind went into panic mode as he stumbled backwards. He fell on his rear but to his legs it didn't matter. They kept working sliding Danny away until he hit a wall and couldn't go any further

**Do not be afraid, ba.**

A rich smooth voice echoed across the silence. Danny looked at the thing for the first time. It was tall and it was pitch black with the silhouette. The yellow eyes pierced right through him, into his soul and yet they were guarded, wise and kind. Danny recognised the two long points on the top of the figure was ears and he could barely make a snout.

Danny's thoughts immediately shifted to Wulf but this wasn't Wulf. It _dwarfed_ Wulf.

**I have come to guide you young one**

The smooth voice echoed once more. Danny clamed a little seeing he wasn't being torn to shreds at the moment. He could feel a massive presence and enigma from the being. He couldn't tell if it was a ghost or a supernatural life form.

"Who… who are you?" Danny couldn't help but stammer. He cursed himself for not being braver and keeping his voice even

**I am known by many names but you may know me as Anubis**

"Anubis?" Danny echoed. His heart thudded, he felt the blood drain away from his face and dread filled the pit in his stomach. He knew enough Ancient Egyptian in History to know who Anubis was.

**Lord over death, living souls and responsible for all who enter the afterlife**

Danny gasped. _I.. I'm dead?_

He shook his head, "No! No it can't be! I can't be dead!"

**Do not be afraid, ba**

"I'M NOT DEAD!" Danny shouted clearly upset by this revelation

He couldn't possibly be dead! He never wanted to die! He wanted to live! Unshed tears formed at his eyes to a point where he couldn't see properly. A lump swelled in his throat making it hard to swallow, his body shook with shock, his lips trembled as his mind gripped the very horror that he wasn't going to see his family and friends again. They were all gone and he was never coming back to them.

Ever.

He never even got to say good bye. He'll never hear his mother calmly speak to him when he was upset or scared, he'll never smile at Jazz's overprotective compassion, he'll never see his father's megawatt smile when he was teaching Danny something of father-son importance, he'll never cause mischief and hang out with Tucker and he'll never get to spend time or share personal feelings with Sam ever again.

He realized his cheeks were wet and wiped at them sniffing pathetically like a little child but he was at a lost of what to do where to go. _Am I full ghost now? Will I be able to be 'Danny Phantom'?_ Those questions popped up in amongst the grief.

He clenched his jaw but his lips wobbled as tears spilled once again. After a while he seemed to have calmed a bit. His heart ached less but it was still raw with loss.

**This is a hard thing to accept young one but one mustn't linger, only move on to the next existence.**

Danny looked at the tall dark figure. He'd forgotten the thing was there. He realized he could see the figure much more clearly against the green light that came from the ghost portal. It was a half human half dog like creature. It was covered head to toe and short pitch black fur except for the sides of his muscle at its neck. The fur was long only to stop past its shoulders. It almost looked like hair. Its neck was adorned with a thick Egyptian looking necklace. Its golden eyes held a guarded look.

"So…" Danny said shakily, "Am I really dead?"

**I cannot say, ba. My role is to guide souls to the afterlife. You are such a soul young one.**

"I don't want to go!"

**You cannot remain here. If you do, you shall stay here on this earth wondering like the spirits you fight.**

"I'll live in the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked shocked, "What about my powers?"

**Lingering here will turn you mad and obsessive as you see your loved ones but yet cannot reach them. Your ability is apart of you. It is part of your soul but it shall take on a new meaning once you've entered the next life.**

Danny drew his knees up and rested his forehead on them. He didn't know what to do, what to think or feel. He just felt numb, numb with disbelief, grief and shock. He closed his eyes.

_This is just a bad dream. It's a really bad nightmare but it will be over soon._

**Come young one, we have a fair way to travel. The travel to the next world can be tough but is there for those who are true.**

"I don't want to go" Danny's voice barely held its whisper, "There has to be a way… I can't be dead"

**I know it is a shock but you cannot linger.**

Danny stood up shakily, "I'm not going! I know I got some life left in me! I'm not going to leave my family or my friends"

The being was silent for the moment as Danny started his way back up the stairs; his stubbornness forced his legs up each step8 and he held on to the side rails just so he wouldn't fall flat on his face.

**Very well ba. If you are not ready to leave then I can await your decision to do so.**

Danny turned and suddenly sunk down on the stairs, his body—or at least what he thought is his body—shook with shock. He felt so tired like he wanted to sleep for a thousand years but he couldn't give up, not yet. He owed it to his family and to himself to try. He's come so far and been through so much that giving up and letting go here seems like giving up.

He sighed and before he knew it darkness claim him once more.

* * *

Jazz entered the house. It was quiet. She made her way upstairs and dumped her school stuff in her room. It had been a busy day and had lost herself in school work. Her worry for her brother left her mind for a couple of moments before coming back again with a memory or a thought. She silently made her way to Danny's room and entered. She found her brother not to be there. She gasped and was at a lost what to do and what to think.

_Where's my brother? Where's Danny?_

Tears threatened to spill as her anxiety, worry and panic rose to the surface.

"Danny?" she called, "Danny?!"

Seeing he was not in his room she rushed down stairs and to the kitchen.

"Jazz down here" her mother's voice called from the basement

Jazz raced down the stairs and into the lab. She saw her mother looking weary with smudges under her eyes.

"Sorry to scare you dear but we had to isolate him just in case the virus spreads" Maddie explained before she said a word

Jazz looked over to a curtained off section and quickly covered the short distance. She entered the space to find her brother hooked to an IV sleeping peacefully. He was hooked to a heart monitor that kept a steady rhythm. She vaguely wondered where her parents get this stuff and if they actually know what they were doing…

She noticed her father was sitting next to Danny. He gave a weary smile and rose from his chair. He turned to leave, to give his daughter privacy with her brother. As he past her he gave her a short but reassuring firm hug before disappearing behind the curtain.

Jazz relished the heartfelt hug and took her fathers place by her brother's side. She grabbed his cool hand. She looked to see his face in a mild panic knowing humans shouldn't be that cool but she saw the rise and fall of her brother's chest and relaxed.

"Come back to us little brother"

* * *

To Be Continued...

Ahhh more family bonding. I cant help it... Danny's family is worried... And this Anbis, Lord over death and stuff... How can Danny convince a god and return to the living...

Would you spare a review? Spare a review for pretty author...


	11. Discovery

A/N: Sorry guys for the wait. I've been distracted lately but now I'm back into the writing mode for this fic. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, fav-ed and alerted my story! Thanks for sticking with me so far! It's been a pleasure writing this... its not finished yet... I've got a climax to do...

So my fellow readers and writers enjoy!

Please note a two chapters back I've acciently dubbed this day Wednesday when its suppose to be Thursday... So this chapter is Thrusday night...

**ba**- is a spirit that has left the body and is wondering around aimlessly on earth (pretty much a ghost) Until something guides them on the journey to the afterlife...

* * *

"Where are we?" Danny asked

After the darkness the next thing he knew was standing in a void of emptiness. It wasn't a scary or strange space but it felt familiar and somewhat comforting.

**Inside a part of your mind**

The smooth deep voice echoed. It was then Danny noticed the being before him. He never realized what presence a god's voice held.

"I thought my brain would be hectic or day dreamy… not this quiet… or empty" Danny strained a chuckle to try and lighten the mood

**This is part of your mind where it goes to escape reality. To 'switch off' so to speak.**

Anubis explained. Silence came. Danny decided to find some other part of his mind to find his way to the part that will lead him to consciousness.

"So… you're a god…" Danny pried

**I am young one. One of many that reside over different territories and duties within the Eternal Realm. **

"So you're not from the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked

**No I am the Guardian of the Spirit Realm or what you refer to as the "Ghost Zone" **

Danny looked at him with new awe, "You**'**re like a Ghost Guardian"

Anubis seemed to nod at this.

**My duty is to guide souls into the afterlife. Those who remain here in the 'Ghost Zone' refuse to let go the life they once had and some even seek to gain it back through their own means.**

"Which I had to stop by the way" Danny muttered

**We all must do out duty ba but yours has ended. It is now time to move on.**

"NO!" Danny snapped, "Don't you have some other 'soul' to lead to the afterlife?"

Anubis seemed to ignore him.

"I'm out of here" Danny muttered as he started to look for a way out of the comforting void

He had to find a way out of his 'mind' and back to the world of the living. He wasn't lying when he knew he wasn't dead. He could feel there was something left and he didn't want to give up. Not yet, no matter what the god of death and souls says. Placing his hope in the chance to be with his family and friends again he stepped forward and started his quest, the quest to live.

* * *

Daniel sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed a few left over pieces of food, avoiding the snapping cheesecake that was intent on biting his hand off, and ran up to his room. He would have freaked at this once upon a time but after being here almost a week it was just the norm. The house was quiet. Daniel knew that the family was downstairs in the lab with Danny.

_Danny…_

He shut his door. He tried to think about something other than what happened last night, that strange phenomenon that scared him. He almost saw someone else die right in front of him… again.

_It's your fault, it's the curse. Everyone around you dies!_

Jackson clenched his jaw and pulled the tablet carefully out of his bag. He placed it on the floor; its unusual hieroglyphs gleamed in the dim light of his lamp. The boy reached over and pulled his father's journal from under his pillow. He grasped the weathered faded red cover and pulled it over to him and positioned himself in front of the stone tablet.

One thing Daniel noticed about this artefact that it was lighter than it looked. He knows that stone tablets should be twice as heavy as this one and also it seemed to glow. Not like a light in a dark room but like a glow-in-the-dark item that is on its last legs. Daniel knew it wasn't any ordinary artefact with all things considered but it made him curious as to where the Mayor, Vlad, had gotten such a thing.

He opened the book, his last link to his father, and flicked through finding the translation that his father had worked out. He saw the strange symbols and scrawled under it was a simple phrase.

"Amok nah na'tu" Daniel whispered

The first three words of a translation that his father was doing, that was by now long gone. Completely useless for him, there were only three symbols translated. Daniel needed a whole alphabet. He ran his hand through his mop brown hair and sighed.

Despair filled him. He had no way to translate this, no way to get out of this mess, to help this family… to help himself…

Jackson flicked aimlessly hoping that there was something written in the blank pages beyond that he never had seen before. He reached the end and gave a short laugh. _Yeah right I know every inch of this book, it's not like I'm going to find anymore answers…_

Then he noticed something odd about the inside cover in the back of the journal. It looked like it was too thick but it seemed normal…

He grabbed a pair of scissors, opened them and used the blade to slice the paper covering of the inner cover. The paper gave away easily to the sharp blade. Daniel tossed the scissors aside and poked his finger in the new made slit. He felt a piece of paper. With excitement he probed it out and saw it was folded flat.

_I wonder why I never noticed this before…_

He carefully unfolded the crisp paper, it crackled protesting at it movement. It was covered in his father's scrawl and there he saw it, Ancient Egyptian symbols translated before him. His blue eyes were wide as his glasses with excitement. He looked over and saw the symbols on the tablet matched his father's translation.

His father had already translated it! He had broke the code! _But why would he hide it? Why would he hide such an important discovery?_

His excitement turned to curiosity and puzzlement. Not wanting to dwell on it too much now he set to work on translating the strange hieroglyphs that adorned the stone tablet.

* * *

Jack leaned over Jazz's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful sleeping on top of her brother. It also looked quite uncomfortable too with her sitting in the chair leaning over, resting her arms and head beside Danny's arm.

He gently picked her up and put her into a bed next to Danny. He was too tired himself to carry her all the way up the stairs and also she would want to be right here next to her sick brother when he wakes up. Jack looked to Danny. He was hooked up to IV's and machinery to keep his vitals going, also he was wrapped in foil blankets and also decided to use an electric blanket to help fight the cold. He wasn't warming up on his own and it was important to keep his temperature stable… even if it wasn't the normal human temperature.

Which brings the question: _How did he survive?_

Jack rubbed his eyes tiredly; fatigue was clearly etched on his face. All he wanted to do was sleep, sleep and sleep but the condition of his son urged him to keep going and find some kind of cure.

No matter how slim the chances are.

Jack tucked Jazz in and left the curtained area. His stomach growled. His hunger dominated his other senses and so he climbed the stairs to get something to eat. Once his stomach got growling there was no ignoring it. When his stomach was empty all he could think was food and found it hard to concentrate on anything. Even if he was sleeping he woke up to eat something just because his stomach's emptiness was so distracting.

After avoiding the snapping cheesecake he grabbed some fudge (his favourite) and ate them greedily. He grabbed a few other 'naughty foods' until his stomach stopped its complaining. With a satisfied smile he went back down stairs.

He glanced at Maddie, knowing she didn't even notice his absence. She was also forcing all her concentration into finding a cure to this Ghost Virus. He went back to his own workspace to continue testing the samples they got from Danny to try and isolate the virus. He was a scientist, a biologist and they were all connected in the field of Ghosts.

His vision blurred, he blinked trying to wipe them clear. Once they focused again he continued. He was lost in thought that when he heard a yelp he jumped, almost dropping a vial he was holding.

Jack whipped around to see Maddie shot up from her chair and the chair fell backwards to the floor with a smack. She turned from the laptop screen to her husband, her violet eyes wide with shock and discovery. He stared back with shock and expectancy.

"Jack! I know what Virus it is!" she exclaimed

"You do? What?" he urged

Maddie shook her head and bit her bottom lip, "It was us Jack! We poisoned out little boy!"

* * *

_To be continued..._

They did WHAT? (Dun, dun, dun!)

If you have been paying attention to my story then this would have been no surprise to you... when I write my fics I tend to leave clues and throughout my story string them together then they come together in the end. I like when people come to their own conclusions and discover the mystery themselves... (shrugs)

Please review? Tell me what you think! Opinions matter!


	12. Shifting

A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! HUZZAH! I'm SOOOOOOOO sorry!!! I know I haven't updated but I haven't forgotten! If you still read and remember this story THANKS!!!! I appreciate every one who reads, faves, alerts and reviews this story. You give me encouragement to finish... even if its not a very popular crossover.

Anyway thanks again... Enjoy!

* * *

The story so far... 

Daniel Jackson as been taken in by the Fentons as foster child. Ghosts start appearing, especially two in particular. One female and one male that Daniel has recognized one to be his mother. Tension and suspicions come between Daniel and Danny, then Danny falls dangerously ill. Vlad appears asking Daniel Jackson to translate a tablet and offers Daniel a way out of state care. Meanwhile Danny almost freezes to death and now he's in a coma. While everyone is fighting for his life, he meets an underworld lord, Anubis who offers him an after life.

* * *

**Friday**

Daniel shifted in the cool breeze. It was mid morning; he had once again skipped school and was at Amity Park (which was also the name of the town). There weren't many people around this time, so he sat on the neatly trimmed grass waiting.

He quite easily saw the person he was looking for. He stood out with his sharp black suit and a strange snobby look on his face. Daniel briefly wondered if it was right that he was dealing with this guy, but he didn't get a chance to ponder on it as the man approached.

Jackson rose re-gripping his pack that held his precious cargo, his ticket out of this life he's been living. His heart fluttered as nervousness took hold. He could smell the aftershave of the man as he stopped in front of him.

"Hello Daniel. I believe you've finished the translation?" the man asked expectantly

The boy nodded almost forgetting why he was meeting the Mayor, Vlad. He shrugged off his pack and pulled out the ancient tablet.

Vlad took the artefact back and Jackson proceeded to give him a piece of paper. While Vlad didn't approve the state of the paper or the scrawl that strewn across it he was extremely pleased with what it contained. His stoic, cold face slowly softened to a smile.

A sly victorious smile.

"So what now?" Daniel asked, "We had a deal, remember?"

Vlad gave a small smirk, "Of course Daniel. As agreed I shall take you to out of the state's care and into mine. You have defiantly proven yourself…"

Daniel couldn't hardly contain his excitement. It broke through his usual mask and shone in his eyes

Vlad placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "However, before I can take you under my wings as my own son there are things that you should know and something else you can help me with"

Daniel frowned _I knew it was too good to be true…_ Seeing his expression Vlad quickly explained.

"Its not an obligation but as an archaeologist I thought you would like to see this discovery through"

_Did he just refered me as an archaeologist?_ Daniel blinked, "You mean go to the dig site with you?"

Vlad smiled, "Not a dig sight my boy but to find more and rare artefacts"

"How?"

"You've done this translation? It clearly shows directions"

Daniel blinked, "It does? It doesn't make sense to me…"

"That's because it's not for this world"

"What?" Daniel looked dumbfounded

"You know that portal in the Fenton Houshold, in the basement?"

Daniel nodded.

"That my boy is an entry into another world. A place called the Ghost Zone"

Daniel shook his head in disbelief, "You mean… that down there?"

"I'm sure you've noticed how strange it is?" Vlad said patiently

Daniel frowned. He had noticed it was strange. He thought it was some kind of safe or a room behind the black and yellow stripped doors. Then Danny slipped the strange thermos into a dispenser that he knew it contained a ghost or at least its purpose was to catch ghosts. Which brings the question: Where does Danny fit into all this?

The boy nodded at Vlad's question.

"I've gathered you've noticed this town has ghost problems and that ghosts are quite real"

Jackson nodded again, his mind flashing back to seeing the ghosts attacking the school… his mother…

"There is a whole world that exists that is full of them and we've recently found a way to crossover into that world by creating large machinery to open a permanent portal" Vlad launched into an explanation. He didn't want to explain everything but he had to if Daniel was going to be with him… be a son that he was looking for. If Daniel Fenton refused to be then a far more intelligent and gifted child should suffice much better. Though one thing he couldn't substitute and that was Maddie.

"I too have such a portal" Vlad mentioned, "Come with me. There are other things I need to explain before we go into the Ghost Zone and what it is we're looking for"

Vlad held out his hand for the boy to take. Daniel looked at his pale white aged hand with manicured fingers taking it in.

"Dude! I'm fourteen not five! I don't need to hold and old man's hand" Daniel muttered shouldering his pack

Vlad gave a small smile, "I think we may get on quite well young Daniel"

* * *

Sam and Tucker entered the Fenton household. It was quiet; nothing was stirring just the humming of some household appliances. 

"Where is everyone?" Sam wondered out loud

"Sleeping?" Tucker guessed

It was morning, Sam and Tucker decided to swing by to see the third member of their group was ok. Actually they didn't really want to go to school again and thus they were here under the pretence that they were.

"I really hope they didn't need to take Danny to the hospital…" Tucker murmured

Sam shook her head, "His parents believe this is a ghost problem and wont bother with hospitals" Sam pointed out

After a moment of silence Sam turned to Tucker

"I'll take upstairs and you take the basement"

Before Tucker could protest she ran upstairs. Tucker grumbled about how sudden the decision was, shouldered his pack and made his way to the basement or The Lab.

Sam ran upstairs to find the rooms empty. She stopped at Danny and couldn't help but have a sneak peak at his stuff. She knew it was wrong but she was a little curious. She was no stranger being in Danny's room with the model space ships, posters of current bands, homework being left undone on his study desk and the usual mess of clothing, paper and other bits of rubbish on the floor.

She noticed that Danny had a photo lying on his study desk. She suddenly blushed as she saw who was in it. It was her and Danny doing a fakeout-makeout. She didn't remember anyone taking the photo, unless they were hidden…

_Tucker!_

Her embarrassment flashed to anger then back to giddiness as she realized Danny has a photo of them kissing. Then her trail of thoughts led back to Danny. The room felt so empty without Danny that it prompted her to leave. Next time she entered that room she wanted to be with Danny.

She checked Daniel's room wondering if he had left already for school… or most likely another day of skipping school. The spare room was empty save for a few books that were sprawled open on the floor. Sam saw a small red book.

Curiosity took hold and she walked over and picked up the book. It was worn with time and use but it seemed to have survived with all pages in tact. Sam felt a little guilty about being in Daniel's room. She hardly knew the kid and he actually was more open to her than anyone else and she didn't want to betray the trust.

So she put the book down.

As she did she caught sight of the open books. She recognised them to be Ancient Egyptian symbols. She picked up the book and flicked through it. It was a reference book. She wondered why he needed these. She was the one with the Ancient Egyptian assignment, not him. _So why did he need these for?_

She put the book back down and glanced at the worn red book. Curiosity overrode her sense of morality and she snatched it back up and flicked through. She saw old photos of a woman and a man. There was one photo that caught her eye and that was the man and woman together. The woman was pregnant; they looked to be in a tent, in desert looking clothing with large smiles on their faces. She instantly knew that these were Daniel's parents.

_Where are his parents now?_

What was more curious on the next page was a journal entry. She recognised it to be Daniel's father from the point of view. He was talking about a dialect of Ancient Egyptian that has yet to be uncovered. She saw the strange symbols underneath and the translation.

Sam looked among the large opened books on the floor. She knelt down and flipped through them but found none of the symbols in the red book matched the ones in the reference books. She frowned and let her eyes scan the floor. She saw pieces of paper scrawled in fresh handwriting.

She read the notes, wondering what it had all meant. She had no idea how to translate the strange Ancient Egyptian symbols. She came across a rough translation of the symbols that were scrawled on the paper. She could barely make out what it says.

Then she caught sight of another piece of paper. As she read it her violet eyes widened with shock. She quickly snatched the papers from the floor and dashed out of the room and down the stairs. She made her way to the basement deducting Tucker would be down there.

She burst in to find Danny's parents busily working. They were into it so much that they didn't notice her. To her left she found a closed off area and instantly dashed over. Her abrupt entrance caught the attention of Jazz and Tucker who were beside a comatose Danny.

Her eyes fell on Danny. He looked peaceful and pale as her eyes tracked the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

"Sam…" Jazz started seeing Sam's startled expression

Sam instantly snapped out of it and stopped her mind venturing into places she didn't want to think about. She composed her self and put on a serious face. She looked at both Jazz and Tucker who had her undivided attention.

"I think we've got a bigger problem"

* * *

"Man I didn't think I had a big brain" Danny groaned as he found himself wondering down a hallway, "I thought my mind would be a little less complicated and much more fun" 

_**The mind is a complex thing, ba. You must open your mind and accept the path before you…**_

Danny growled and glanced at the mystical being a few paces behind him

"Don't you have places to be? I'm sure I'm not that interesting!" Danny muttered, "Can't you annoy someone else?"

_**You only think I am an annoyance because you will not accept the path and opportunity that is open to you**_

"Have you ever thought that I don't want to die?" Danny snapped, "If there is a chance…"

_**If you linger you will become the very thing you fight**_

Danny gave a sigh, "I'm willing to risk that"

Suddenly Danny yelped as the bumped into something solid. He stumbled backwards and looked up only to realize that Anubis God of the Underworld was towering before him with piercing yellow eyes and such presence that it took everything in Danny not to cower and back away.

_**I do not have much patience and you do not have much time, ba. You must come with me, you must cross over. I as Guardian of the Spirit Realm have responsibility to make sure the balance is kept! You are dead, ba! You cannot return to your body! You are now a spirit and as one you must make a choice to move on and cross over or remain as a spirit, an echo of your former self. Stop with your juvenile ways and take responsibility for yourself.**_

Danny wanted to scream and shout and chuck a tantrum. He was fourteen, he wasn't meant to go through things like this, he was meant to play games,hang out with friends, sneak out, and don't give a crap about school, not making life and death decisions!

Instead he backed away and lowered his head. He slowly shook his head.

"No…" Danny looked up to the god's glowing yellow eyes, "I'm not going"

_**So be it…**_

Danny suddenly felt a chill going down his spine as the dog being glared down at him with his golden eyes.

_**You do realize that I must keep the balance, ba. To keep this balance you cannot remain here.**_

"What do you mean? Can't I, lack for a better term, 'live' in the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked

_**You are different young one. You have been altered. Touched with my power and I can not let you remain as a spirit and have ultimate use of that power.**_

Danny frowned, "What do you mean? Are you talking about my Ghost Powers?"

_**I created the Spirit Realm. When that energy touched you when you opened a permanent portal between our worlds, you absorbed some of my power.**_

Danny had always wondered about the accident and what had happened. He always put it down to some weird scientific supernatural phenomenon but now this being is saying that he got a small taste of his power. A God's power…

_**So I cannot let you remain. There is a reason why mortals cannot contain a god's power.**_

He raised his furry hand. A yellow glow appeared in his palm. Danny's eyes grew wide with fear as he realized what was going to happen.

"Wait! I thought I was going to become a ghost… live in the Ghost Zone!" Danny protested his voice reduced to a mere squeak

His blue eyes glued to the growing ball of light before him.

_**There is no place for you here, ba. You have made your decision.**_

Danny's vision was engulfed by a while light.

* * *

"Dare I ask, what is a bigger problem than Danny in a coma?" Tucker asked sarcastically 

Sam frowned and waved the piece of paper in her hand.

"Oh I don't know, Vlad trying to bring the end of the world or something!!!" Sam snapped

"What?"

"I'll explain on the way, but we got to get into the Ghost Zone and stop him!"

"Stop him from what?" Jazz asked

Sam sighed, "Didn't you hear what I just said. I'll explain on the way! You got to trust me on this!"

"I'm not leaving Danny" Jazz pouted

Sam set her jaw, "I don't want to leave him either but we can stop Vlad then I know we be doing something for Danny. Danny is always fighting for us well it's time we fought for him! I just know whatever Vlad is up to its never good"

Jazz nodded and gave a sniff. Tucker stared at Danny's prone form but his mind was lost in his thoughts.

Sam faltered seeing the low morale within all three of them. It's hard when the person you've always looked up to and depended on was down for the count.

Suddenly Tucker jerked and it seems Jazz was following his sudden movements as well. Before Sam could ask what was wrong she followed their gaze, which was upon Danny. Danny's eyes twitched, as if his eyes were moving underneath his eye lids.

"Oh my God! He's out of the coma!" Jazz almost squealed, "He's gonna wake up!"

Excited by this, all three of them jumped up and started yelling encouragements for him to wake up. As if in response his face scrunched and he started to scream in pain. Surprised all three of them backed away as Danny continued in pain filled whine, his back arching off the bed, his screams dwindled to gasping.

Machines he was hooked too where beeping and whirring calling out in alarm. Soon Maddie and Jack came in at the machines' call and started to try and stabilize their son. All three teens stood back could only watch as Danny arched impossibly of the bed before a long beep rang clear and true through the chaos.

* * *

_To be Continued..._

Ahhhh I have to dash your hopes don't I. Looks like good help is so hard to find these days. Anubis wont take no for an answer, looks like Danny's gonna die and Vlad has got the upper hand and is off to find something. Something with power, no doubt...

I thought good was suppose to win over evil... oh well

Review? Please? Come on spare a review! Need feedback! (jittery) Need fix! Seriously tell me what you think. If you think its good or it sucks then tell me!


	13. Awakening

A/N: I'm sooooooooo sorry once again! I was meant to update ages ago but I lost my USB memory stick... It's not my only copy of the story but it is my most up to date version. Just this morning I found it and I completed this chapter! Yay!  
So sorry for the looooooooooong wait. I left you guys last time with another major cliffy... being that Danny is dead...

Eeeep! Don't kill me! I didn't mean to leave all of you hanging but I did so I'm sorry. So to make it up to you I'm posting this.

Also I forgot to mention in my last posting... I got fanart! Yay! By k8y411. It's Daniel Jackson in DP style check it out at  
k8y411(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Ghost-Guardian-Daniel-Jackson-77977863

Anyway lets see what happens to our favourate ghost boy...

I'm going now. Laterz minions!  
When I say minions I mean it as an term of endearment: I love my minions!

* * *

Suddenly the pain stopped. Danny was so grateful that he could finally rest. All he could hear was ringing in his ears. He barely registered he was on the floor, the pain dulled into a throb. The darkness that he sought to escape the pain was no longer there. He felt like he was recovering, his strength was returning. The pain he was encased in was slowly disappearing and his ears started picking up other sounds. He opened his eyes to find himself on a green ground.

Danny pushed himself off the floor with his arms. His muscles functioned fine without any expected soreness from his pain filled experience. Clearly confused he sat up and looked around. He recognised his surroundings; he was in the Ghost Zone.

He saw Anubis with his back to him, his long jackal ears turning and his nose sniffed the air. Thanking what ever other god out there that had mercy on him, Danny climbed to his feet.

The dark furred being turned to Danny, his golden eyes glowed and seemed to pierce right through him.

"What happened?" Danny gasped finding his voice

_**Your Passing will have to wait, ba. A much more pressing matter has arose**_

_What's more important than killing me?… not that I'm not grateful _Danny thought

_**I'm afraid I am in need of your services**_

"What?" Danny blinked owlishly

Anubis bowed his head, his yellow orbs disappeared meaning he had closed his eyes.

_**Something threatens the very existence of the Spirit Realm and I must stop it. It is my job to keep the balance but I am in need of your assistance**_

Danny frowned and quirked his head to the side a little. This was an interesting turn, first the guy tried to make him crossover, then tried to kill him torturing him in the process and now he wants help. This just didn't make any sense. He felt rage flair in his chest.

"First you try to convert me, then toast me for not going and now you want my help?" Danny snapped, "Why should I help you? You never helped me! All you wanted was to get your power back since I'm not alive anymore!"

Anubis still had his head bowed but then lifted it and his glowing yellow eyes appeared once more.

_**Please forgive me young one. I am only doing my job which is to keep the balance. If it is not kept then reality will cease to exist. I do what must be done.**_

Danny folded his arms, "I'm fourteen! I don't care! It doesn't matter since I'm dead!"

_**You must understand you cannot exist in this realm with my power. My power corrupts mortal spirits. While you are alive you are still are tied to the living and my power doesn't have much influence but when you depart from the living world your very soul turns to madness. My power that has touched you will manifest itself into its fullest potential. I had to stop this process before this happens.**_

Danny's mind was suddenly bombarded with thoughts of his future self. If what Anubis said was true his evil self was created from two ghost halves, one Vlads and his, both containing Anubis's power. Over the years it manifested itself to something extremely powerful and evil. He shivered wondering if he was going to become like that if Anubis hadn't stepped in. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his family and friends.

Anubis gave a nod.

_**I see that you understand, ba. If you had crossed over in to the afterlife then my power in you will manifest itself differently and will be limited once more with no real power to corrupt. That is why if you didn't cross over then I will have to forcefully remove my power from you and it is extremely painful to the mortal spirit.**_

_**However a matter has rose and I am in need of your services to help to restore the balance.**_

"Not that I'm grateful for not ripping my soul apart but why didn't you just take your power and deal with this yourself?" Danny asked curiously

_**I may be a god of the afterlife and the Spirit Realm but for over millennia my power has dwindled. But within you and Vladmir my power has been kept and even growing.**_

"I thought gods weren't supposed to loose power…" Danny trailed

_**Part of my power was taken from me over millennia ago, young one**_

Anubis's eyes glowed with fury as his pearly white canine teeth glistened in the dim light of the Ghost Zone. It looked like Anubis was an over grown aggressive wolf and Danny had to back away a little, even if he knew the anger wasn't directed at him, he could feel the rage rolling of the supernatural being in waves.

_**You must realize young one, spirits that reside in the Ghost Zone are not always human. Ghosts who come into the Spirit Realm feel the need to govern it and control it themselves. There are those who thought I was too powerful for them and felt the need to take my power. They couldn't use my power themselves so they hid it and locked it away. Since then my remaining power has been slowly declining and I have been searching for the rest of it since but to no avail. I have been doing my duty but without my power spirits cannot move on properly so there has been a steady increase of spirits living in the Spirit Realm. My duty is to maintain the balance but it is shifting and I fear that I cannot up keep the balance any longer without the rest of my power.**_

"What's this balance you're talking about? Why is it so important? From what I see the Ghost Zone is doing fine" Danny asked looking around the realm

_**The Spirit Realm is in terrible danger of becoming undone. The balance I keep is to guide souls to the afterlife and maintain the Realm itself. With my remaining power slowly weakening so has the Spirit Realm. I have been searching for a relic that contains my power for over millennia and have failed to find it but now something has changed.**_

"What?" Danny prompted

_**The Realm is beginning to unravel. Without the Ghost Zone spirits will have no place to go and attempt to live in the Mortal Realm but as you may know there is no place for spirits in the Mortal Realm. Without the Spirit Realm those who leave the living world can never crossover to the other side, the balance of life and death will be tipped and can cause consequences that are too complicated for a young mortal mind to understand**_

"So what do we do?" Danny asked

Anubis looked at him with a calm authority that made Danny feel suddenly at ease.

_**Someone has found my relic, the relic that holds the rest of my power. Somehow the ancient ghosts have carefully hidden the relic from me believing I was a threat and thus causing our present concern. Since someone has found it I gather they have broken the hiding spell and now I can sense it. I fear that who now holds it is also hold part of my power, much more mature than yours.**_

"Vlad" Danny muttered darkly

Danny mentally groaned. The fruit loop has done it again and is messing with things he doesn't understand. He never learns that stealing power never turns out good. _Doesn't he watch movies?_

"So defeat the bad guy and save the world- or realm. It's in my job description. So how can I help?" Danny quipped knowing it was up to him to stopping Vlad and save the world. _What else was new?_

Anubis looked at him his yellow eyes glowed with power.

_**Wake up.**_

* * *

Suddenly Danny sat up and gasped as if he never had breathed before, his eyes wide, he felt cold as if he was outside in the cool twilight of an afternoon for too long. After taking a few lung fulls of air he registered what he was seeing. He saw he was in a bed, he was dressed in hospital like garments. He quickly looked up and saw faces staring at him with equal shock that he had.

He suddenly felt scared _Where am I? Who are these people? Where's Anubis?_

"Anubis?" He called his voice soft and croaky as if it hadn't been used for a long time

"Oh my God!" a voice finally cut through the stunned silence

A female appeared in his line of vision. She had brown hair, violet eyes and wore a teal jumpsuit. She was looking at him with tears, emotions clearly etched in her face not sure what to do but she was clearly happy. He swallowed and moved away a little unsure what to do.

"W-where am I?" he croaked, "Where's Anubis?"

The woman reached out to touch him, he flinched away as if her very touch could burn him.

"What happened?" he asked forcefully

"Danny-" the woman chocked a sob clearly hurt by his actions

He stared at her with his wide blue eyes. The sound of his name seemed to trigger something in his mind. Something clicked in place as if his brain had been dormant for a long time. He blinked staring at the woman in front of him as his mind began to grasp threads of recognition to a point where he began to realize where he was and what was happening. He looked around and began to relax, he looked back the woman as his brain seemed to function once again.

"M-Mom?" he asked

It was all it took.

He was swept into Maddie's arms and held for the longest time. He felt his father's strong arms around them both, then his sister's, than Sam's and even Tucker's. He could feel their warmth, their tears, their hopes, their sorrows and their relief. His cool clammy skin warmed to a rosy pink, his limbs tingling with warmth that he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt warm, secure and safe. He could stay there forever and forget everything that ever happened. He wanted to live in ignorant bliss, be safe and not have any worries or responsibilities. 

But he knew that he was alive for a reason.

* * *

Daniel felt a sense of foreboding as he entered Vlad Master's castle mansion. Inside the main room was full of packer fan memorabilia. Despite the bright green and yellow colours, the pictures and sports souvenirs that decorated the room he felt everything was wrong.

Jackson looked around taking in the decor before him as he was led through the home. A fluffy white cat came up and greeted him by brushing his legs with its tail, giving soft meows and light purring.

"I see my sister's cat likes you" Vlad commented with a small smile

Daniel bent down and patted the cat. The feline purred with delight.

"What's its name?" Jackson asked  
"Maddie"

Daniel frowned at the odd name. Then he made a connection.

"Isn't that the name of Mrs. Fenton?" Daniel asked  
"Yes but I assure you its quite coincidental" Vlad said quickly giving another small smile

Daniel looked at the old man suspiciously for a moment. Vlad cleared his empty throat and adjusted his tie.

Jackson smirked at the nervous gesture. _Looks like the mayor has an interest in Maddie… ewwwww…_

"I have something to show you my dear child, and it's to do with that tablet, what Daniel Fenton's parents do and most importantly what I do"

He walked off in another direction. Daniel followed his ever present curiosity pushing the little warning voice in his head away. They entered another room and he saw it was a small study. His eyes sparked interest with the books that lined the walls. 

Vlad gave a small amused smile at the young boy and knowing what potential he had. All he has to do was gain the boy's loyalty and trust and his quest for the finer things in life would be so much easier and pleasurable. Despite what he was and what he had become he longed to have his own family… even if he had to steal it away from others (like Jack Fenton) then he would.

He walked over to the fire place and turned to the boy.

"What am I about to show you are one of the greatest brake through in science and our knowledge in the paranormal and the supernatural. However it is a secret or a truth that others are not ready to accept. This is a secret that must not leave this room. Understand?" Vlad turned his steely blue eyes towards Daniel

Daniel nodded, his eyes blinked innocently through his large gold rimmed glasses.

With a smile Vlad pulled the trigger and the fireplace opened up revealing stairs below. Daniel's eyes went wide as dinner plates thinking he saw this kind of thing in movies and on TV. Vlad turned and descended down the stairs. Daniel followed the darkness swallowing him up as he left the well lit study.

(linebreak)

Danny put on his usual clothing. It was nice to be out of hospital garments, which he had to ponder where his parents get all this hospital equipment…

After everyone was had their fair share of hugging and talking just to cope with their own mixture of emotions, he pried himself away to his room where he put his familiar clothing on. He gave a small smile remembering when he was with Anubis he was wearing the same clothes. He always wondered why ghosts wear clothes but he guessed that they died in it.

Like he did.

He shivered and slipped on his red and white shirt. He was told how lucky he was. He was in a coma since Wednesday then he woke up in pain then his heart stopped. He was gone for a couple of hours before his miraculous return. Danny wondered why he wasn't a vegetable or he wasn't having any troubles functioning, after all when the brain gets no oxygen it suffers brain damage, well according to Biology anyway.

He could only gather it was Anubis power that got him through all that.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in" he croaked. His voice was still a little rusty

The door opened to reveal Sam. Her eyes were a little red from the tears that she had shed but now were full of happiness and weariness. Then she came up to him and punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow!" Danny muttered rubbing his sore shoulder.  
"Don't you ever do that to us again!" she snapped her face was a mixture of grief, hurt, joy and anger, "Do you know how worried I was? Do you know what went through my mind when you… died?"

Danny shook his head and looked away. He knew why Sam was angry. She was feeling vulnerable and for her way to cope with what just happen is to turn to anger. The thing Sam hated was vulnerability. Danny never had seen her shed a tear in his long friendship with her. Only now he has seen remnants of tears through her red tear stained eyes but not actually a tear.

"Sorry" he muttered feeling bad for making her and everyone feel the way they felt.  
"Don't say sorry!" she growled punching him again in the shoulder on the same spot, he yelped, "Just don't do it again… ever!"

Danny looked at Sam and gave a small smile and to his delight she smiled in return.

"Listen Danny we need to-" Sam started her face lost the genuine smile and turned more serious  
"I need to go to the Ghost Zone" Danny cut her off feeling awkward  
Sam frowned, "Why?"  
"To help out someone and to stop Vlad" Danny muttered  
Sam blinked, "That's what I was gonna tell you. Vlad is up to something"

She handed him a scrap piece of paper and he took it and read the scribbly translation.

"It must be talking about Anubis's relic…" Danny murmured  
"I got it from Daniel's room… I think he is involved somehow" Sam continued  
Danny muttered, "That's Vlad for ya… always trying to manipulate people"  
"We got to stop them" Sam said with urgency

Danny nodded and turned to her, "I know, get Jazz and Tucker and meet me in front of the Ghost Portal. We've got to stop him from getting the relic… I'll explain it all don't worry"

With that Sam nodded and left. Danny folded up the piece of paper and pushed it into his pocket.

After this was all over Danny was defiantly going on vacation of some kind. It's been one hell of a week.

* * *

To Be continued...

Sorry if this chapter isn't too exciting and I am aware that its lacking a little family moments and emotional stuff but I do admit that I don't like to dwell too much on that and I wanna move forward for the final climax of the story... don't worry I'm taking it easy but want to be strong. I know Anubis was a little unusal and he's suppose to be that way... not because I suddenly decide something but because Anubis is a supernatural being with a lot of power but most of that is limited. Next chapter will explain some more stuff as they track down Vlad...

Please Review! Pretty pretty please? I'll give you a virtual, pretend Danny Phantom Plushie...! If you hate the way its going or like the way its going, then tell me! Feedback is good!


	14. Hide and Seek

A/N: I'M NOT DEAD!! YAY!! Sorry everyone!! I've been really busy and thus led me to procrastination on this story. (hides) Don't kill me! Please forgive me! I made this story one of my priorities to finish. Anyway I'm really sorry!!

Thanks everyone who reviewed and stick with me this far and putting up with my posting habits. I really appreciate your feedback and support! I also apologize in advance for grammer errors as this is un-beta-ed...

Now for the story, enjoy!

* * *

_The story so far..._

_A fourteen year old orphan, Daniel Jackson as been taken in by the Fentons as foster child. Suddenly two distinctive ghosts appears and starts to attack the town and Danny Fenton. One female and one male that Daniel has recognized one to be his mother. Tension and suspicions come between Daniel and Danny, then Danny falls dangerously ill. Vlad appears asking Daniel Jackson to translate a tablet and offers Daniel a way out of state care. Meanwhile Danny almost freezes to death and now he's in a coma. While everyone is fighting for his life, he meets an underworld lord, Anubis who offers him an after life and eventually resurrects Danny._

_Now Danny has survived and is asked by Anubis to pursue Vlad and retrieve Anbus's scepter that will restore the Ghost Zone again. While Vlad manipulates Daniel Jackson further and pursues his quest for power._

* * *

The Specter Speeder whizzed across the empty vastness of the Ghost Zone. Swirls of spectral energy and pink doors dotted the inky darkness.

Danny took command of the vehicle as Tucker handled the navigation while Jazz and Sam kept an eye on the Speeder's workings. Danny insisted he drove the vehicle instead of floating around in his ghost form. It gave him a chance to explain what had happened to him since he fell sick. He felt he owed it to Sam, Tucker and Jazz to give them an explanation at the very least. He also felt the strong desire to be around them and didn't want to be alone.

He looked out to the eerie scenery of the Ghost Zone as he recounted his experience with Anubis, leaving out the god's attempt to take his powers away if he was to remain as a ghost. He didn't want them to think Anubis was bad or was malicious. Danny somehow understood the god's intentions as its number one priority above all else was to keep the realm safe and balanced. Danny didn't want to turn evil, if he was left as a ghost while his ghost side slowly corrupted him like the god said. Danny saw what he could become and was quite frankly scared to loose everything he had and turn evil.

He stopped his trail of thought and his mind returned to the present time, relishing the fact he was safe and with the people he came to know and love.

"So Anubis is real?" Sam shook her head in disbelief, "The Egyptian God of the Underworld"

Danny turned to her and gave a lopsided smile. He knew she loved the whole mythical supernatural gods and creatures that history and lore has churned out. Anything to do with death or the occult she was the go to person, so Danny knew she would somewhat excited about the existence of Anubis.

"So let me get this straight, we have to find Anubis's relic and save the Ghost Zone?" Tucker summed up his story

Danny nodded, "Yeah basically. And I have a feeling Vlad is somewhere in the middle of all this"

Jazz gave a sigh somewhere behind him, "Maybe we should've waited a little longer before heading out"

Danny didn't look at Jazz but he could feel Jazz's worried stare bore into the back of his neck. Danny noticed how quiet Jazz has been. Usually she was quite talkative and always sprouting knowledge but since he came back to the land of the living she just keeps staring at him with concern and fear. He couldn't meet her eyes so he looked away every time she looked at him, afraid of what he might see.

An awkward silence filled the cabin space.

"Vlad is up to something big plus Anubis is asking for our help. If a god is asking for help I'm pretty sure there is something seriously wrong" Danny finally answered

In his curiosity he wanted to ask about what happened while he was in a coma but he knew that no one wanted to talk about it, let alone tell him. They were all just thankful that he was ok and _alive_. His parents fussed over him for hours upon hours and he had to covertly use his powers to escape just to have some room. He knew that he was a walking miracle and he wasn't going to push his friends because of his curiosity. He would be clearly rattled if one of his friends or family almost died.

"We're almost there" Tucker announced

Danny glanced over to Tucker

"Its straight ahead, were about a mile out" he continued looking at the large red dot that glared from the screen

"Are you sure that large spectral energy would be Anubis?" Jazz asked

Danny shrugged, "I dunno but it's worth a shot"

As they neared their destination, the realm darkened. There were hints of purple ectoplasm mixed with some green and the doors where ghosts 'live' were becoming scarce.

"We've got a visual" Tucker announced and then grinned, "I've always wanted to say that!"

He was ignored when all pairs of eyes were plastered to the sight before them. There was a dark speck in the distance that grew in size when they approached. Also a gigantic land mass greeted them, the biggest that Danny had seen in a long time. It stretched towards the horizon and probably beyond and it was wide, filled with vegetation and ghostly critters. The black speck became a humanoid shape and before long an actual distinctive shape, one that Danny recognised.

"Anubis" he whispered before climbing out of the vehicle, once they landed. His friends followed at a more cautious distance as Danny quickly approached.

The being was easily seven to eight feet tall, his skin was covered in fine fur. He turned to meet the new arrivals. All of them stopped dead in their tracks as the god's golden eyes glowed from his dark muzzled face. Danny seen the god already and knew him but he could never get over how much of a presence that the Lord of the Underworld made. The air was filled with calm authority as he looked upon the morals before him.

_**It is good to see you again young one.**_

A voice boomed in his mind making his heart leap in fear and somewhat excitement. It low tones vibrated through his soul, it was a familiar but unnatural. He glanced over to his friends to see them with the look of shock and surprise. He was sure they felt the power the god emitting.

_**I have been waiting for you. The other who also holds my power has entered the place where my relic is being held and now attempts to retrieve it.**_

"Do you have a plan of attack?" Danny asked swallowing a lump in his throat that seemed to have developed there

Anubis gave a nod.

_**You will have to do this alone young one. Resurrecting you has drained me of my reserved power. I must now concentrate on keeping the Spirit Realm in existence. The Realm is deteriorating rapidly as I am now weakened.**_

Danny nodded.

"C-Can I ask you something?"

Anubis's gazed upon him in expectance. Danny tried to keep his voice even and not to stammer as the god's overwhelming presence swept over him. It seemed that his presence was more intense now that he was alive before him, rather than in spirit form.

"Will you take my powers when this is done?" Danny dared to ask, "Since you need it and all?"

Anubis stood there for a moment as if contemplating Danny's question.

_**No. I have given back your life, even if it is not my place to. Your life is yours to have. However when you die again you will not be resurrected again. I have a life and death cycle to maintain and no mortal can live forever. The powers you have are yours to keep, unless you forfeit them to me or you choose not to crossover again. You and Vladmir only have the essence of my powers and once I retrieve my relic I shall restore the Spirit Realm to its rightful composition. I was never in need of your powers young one; I couldn't let you have them when you're a complete spirit.**_

Danny nodded, "Oh, Ok"

_**The time for words have past, young one. You must go and retrieve the relic; I fear I cannot sustain the realm like this for much longer.**_

Danny nodded and moved past the large supernatural being. He turned to his friends and gestured them to come along. They awkwardly followed him never taking their eyes off the god until he was out of sight.

"Wow" Tucker muttered

"You got that right" Sam muttered panting like she just had finished a race

"He didn't even speak. He just spoke into our minds" Jazz commented in somewhat fear and awe

Danny looked at them taking in their astonished expressions before concentrating on the path a head of him.

* * *

_Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my!)_, Daniel thought as he gazed upon the stone structure in front of him, _At least it looks like stone, its probably made of ectoplasm or something…_

Daniel was in a daze. Vlad shown him the ghost portal, he told him about ghosts and all about the Ghost Zone, all about different types of ghosts and rare powerful artefacts that existed here. Vlad told him with much enthusiasm that Daniel couldn't believe it was the same man he'd met days ago.

Last but not least Daniel was shown that Vlad wasn't completely human either. He was a ghost and human hybrid, caused by a lab accident in college. Daniel was afraid at first his instinct was to run away but at the same time his urge to learn everything about this strange place was more powerful. He wanted to explore and meet other ghosts and even study them on a cultural level. He wondered if they mimicked cultural practices as a former echo of what they had practiced when they were alive. How did they interact? how did they exist? Was there a major ghost hierarchy or was each ghost in for themselves?

Questions bubbled in his head wanting to be answered. He no longer scoffed at the mere thought of ghosts but now wondered what other supernatural things that was out there, other places and other worlds waiting to be discovered and explored.

He felt like he fell down the proverbial Rabbit Hole and entered a bizarre world.

He followed Vlad through some vegetation. Daniel saw that he went right through the object as if he was a ghost… he smiled at the irony. Now they stood before a stone structure that Daniel mentally referenced it to an Egyptian like building with smooth surfaces and writings on the wall. It was run down but it wasn't in ruins. He wondered if it could ever be in ruins. He wondered if things here were timeless or did they age like in the real world.

"Stay out here" Vlad instructed before entering the building himself

Daniel wanted to go inside but he was afraid what he might find in there. Everything here was strange and he wasn't really up to exploring ruins, at least not until he knew more about the world he was in.

After half an hour Vlad emerged carrying a stick like sceptre. It was thin and Egyptian looking with blue and red paint and the gold beak that tipped the top. He never seen something like it before, he studied Egypt and its past artefacts and treasures but not this. He knew it was Egyptian in nature but he knew nothing more about it and the tablet he deciphered wasn't much help either.

The foster child watched as Vlad gave a wicked grin, his fangs sticking out. He held it in one hand and swung it and then paused as if he was expecting something. An annoyed expression crossed his face and he swung it again and paused but nothing happened.

Daniel frowned at his strange behaviour, "What are you doing?"

Vlad scowled but composed himself and addressed the boy in front of him

"Just making sure it is sturdy…"

Daniel lifted an eyebrow and Vlad cursed the boy for being so observant and sharp. He had to be careful. He hadn't told him how valuable this was to his quest for power. He knew he had to gain the boy's trust and slowly manipulate him to see things his way.

"Lets go" Vlad moved off in another direction

Daniel began to doubt Vlad had an appreciation of artefacts. With the way he acted and treated the artefact, he knew then that Vlad wasn't a true archaeologist or even interested in finding past treasures for human knowledge and gain.

Daniel began to question the man's agenda in all this. He knew he had one from the start but he was wondering if a free shot to a grand school was worth it. Daniel began following Vlad when he heard a voice, he turned and his eyes went wide with surprise.

* * *

It felt like they have been walking for hours. Danny felt achy and sore. Usually he was in tip top shape due to his "second job" but he gathered that his body hasn't been getting much exercise. He half wondered why he hadn't changed into his ghost form and floated around instead, but he wasn't bothered to battle the thick vegetation. At least in his human form with his friends they can go through the ghostly plants and bugs like they were the ghosts.

They finally came upon a clearing and a large stone structure. Sam came up beside him.

"This has to be it" she panted a little

"I hope we're not too late" Tucker wheezed, "Man this is why I hate hiking!"

"Well one way to find out if he's actually in there. Going-"

Danny stopped as Sam's hand clapped onto his arm. He turned to her but her attention was elsewhere. He looked towards the direction she was looking.

"Daniel!!" Sam called as she jogged ahead of him

Danny turned to look at the foster kid. He had almost forgotten about him with all that had been happening. He saw the kid was much skinnier than when he first met him. His moppy messy brown hair almost covered his large gold rimmed glasses. He saw him.

Their eyes locked and Danny could see the boy's look of utter shock. Sam appeared beside Daniel and shook him out of his stupor, literally. Danny gave a smile but it faded when his eyes caught someone else.

Vlad.

Vlad stood behind Daniel and Sam with his trade mark smugness, holding Anubis's sceptre. A flare of fury surged through him and he ran towards the man. Sam turned to find Vlad in his ghost form, her expression turned dark and scowled. Daniel saw her expression and curious but cautiously looked up to Vlad.

Danny broke out into a sprint towards his friends, his instinct to protect them was strong as danger was so close to them. In one quick move Vlad pushed Sam out of the way and grabbed Daniel and took off into the air.

"Sam!"

Danny reached Sam as he looked up to see them disappearing into the distance. He cursed as Vlad still had the sceptre and now he had his foster brother. Danny felt a little guilty for worrying more about Sam than Daniel but he never got along with the foster kid… even if he maybe in more trouble that Sam was.

"Sam, are you ok?" Danny took Sam's arm and helped her up

Sam nodded breathless. Tucker and Jazz appeared beside them at that moment.

"We're too late Vlad's got the sceptre" Jazz wailed

"Not if I can help it" Danny growled, his eyes glowed green with anger

"If we leave now we maybe able to catch up with him" Tucker waved over

Danny blinked in confusion.

Jazz rolled her eyes and moved aside to clear his line of vision, "While you rushed ahead, we saw Vlad a little earlier than you did so we decided to get the Spectre Speeder here just in case you needed some backup"

Danny saw the Spectre Speeder parked a few meters away.

"Great! You guys go ahead" Danny urged them, "I'm Going Ghost!"

White rings appeared around him and he changed into his ghost form. Without looking back he leaped into the air and headed towards the last known position Vlad was seen, knowing his friends would be behind him backing him up.

* * *

"What on earth is going on? Let me go!" Daniel growled as he twisted in the muscular ghost's grip

"Calm yourself Daniel. I was merely trying to save you" Vlad replied as they flew across the deep recesses of the Ghost Zone

"What? They're my friends!" Daniel defended, "I'm with Danny's family!"

"Oh please dear boy, don't let them fool you" Vlad snorted

Daniel laxed in his grip frowning, "What do you mean?"

"There is something else you'll need to know Daniel. Something about Daniel Fenton…"

* * *

_To Be Continued..._

What is Vlad's plan? Why does he even want the sceptre? Where is he off to with Daniel?  
I dunno but I've got a bad feeling about this...


	15. Power and Glory

A/N: I've been busy writing this and I'm determined to finish. Only a few more chapters to go including an epilogue involving SG-1 team and Danny :)

So my watchers and reviewers, Enjoy!

This is un-beta-ed...

* * *

All the pieces of the puzzle that Daniel had collected fell into place. It felt like a light bulb went off in his mind. All the nagging thoughts and suspicions were renewed in a new awareness. It all made sense now. All the events in the past week made sense! Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom was the same person. If he had never seen Vlad change the conclusion to Danny's behaviour would have never have formed that way.

But what was puzzling as to how Danny was alive. He was dying when he left.

_Maybe he got better when you left him. Maybe you're making him sick…_

Daniel shook his head to clear the dark thought from his mind. He already left the Fenton household to prevent past events from happening. But it looks like he was more entangled then ever.

He looked up at Vlad who still held him against his chest; his strong unnatural strength never faltering to keep him up.

Vlad cleared his throat, "Daniel Fenton is-"

"What is it? He likes rainbow unicorns and plays dress up?" Daniel muttered sarcastically

Vlad raised an eyebrow

"Let me guess, he is half dead, like you" Daniel muttered.

Vlad raised both eyebrows.

"I thought so" Daniel replied taking Vlad's silence as confirmation

"You're smarter than I thought my boy" Vlad complimented

"Nah, he's right behind us"

Vlad whipped around to see Danny flying behind them. Angry, Vlad waved the sceptre at Danny with his free hand. The beams of red energy shot from the sceptre. Danny easily evaded it but felt the raw energy of power. Anubis's power.

"Give up Vlad!" Danny yelled, "Let him go!"

Vlad hovered. His face drew into a greedy smirk.

"I'm merely doing nothing wrong. It seems you are the one chasing us and I am defending young Daniel here from you"  
Danny rolled his eyes, "Please pull the other one"

Daniel watched the exchange. He looked below his dangling feet to see the endless abyss below him. He closed his eyes and then quickly looked at the white haired boy in front. He remembered seeing him at the school. He still looked very similar to Danny and due to Vlad's answer he knew they were one and the same person; Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were one and the same.

Vlad pointed the sceptre at Danny and charged it up. Danny readied himself his finger tips glowing with power.

"You can't win!" Vlad gloated, "I have the most powerful relic in all of the Ghost Zone. Do you know how long it took to find the tablet?"

"You don't know what you are doing! That _relic_ is the only thing that is going to keep the Ghost Zone together! If it doesn't go back to Anubis then the whole zone will be gone!" Danny snapped

"Anubis is gone. He left long ago, you fool!" Vlad laughed, "But the sceptre he left behind holds so much power! No one can use it and so the ghosts around here hid it. But now I found it and I will destroy you for once and for all!"

"I knew you had no regard to artefacts!" Daniel growled interrupting Vlad's gloating session, "You're just a tomb robber and a gold digger!"

"Daniel…" Vlad began

"Not to mention your weird obsession with the Fentons. I mean your _sister's_ cat called Maddie? Please I wasn't born yesterday!" Daniel emphasised sister with his fingers making air quotations marks.

Danny perked up somewhat annoyed, "You have a cat? And you named it after my Mom?"

Vlad glared at the boy in his arms.

"I had high hopes for you Daniel. You are very smart, just like your parents"

"You don't even know my parents" Daniel snarled

"True but I am familiar with their work"

Daniel glared up at Vlad. Anger swirled in his heart. Had had a life time of disappointments and harsh treatment but nothing was compared to this. He truly believed this man could get him out of the merry-go-round of the social service system but now he felt so betrayed. He saw hope but now that was just fallacy, like a carrot dangled in front of the donkey.

"It doesn't give you any right! You weren't going to help me out at all were you? You just used me to translate that tablet so you can come in here and use this sceptre to endanger everyone! Don't you have any regard at the lives you're putting at risk?" Daniel snarled tears forming at the corners of his eyes

Danny looked on, surprised how angry his foster brother had gotten. He's seen him angry and upset but nothing like this. It was pure hurt and betrayal that was etched on his features. Danny felt a pang of pity.

_So that was Vlad's promise to get Daniel out of the social services system? Oh man!_

Vlad almost shrank back at Daniel's expression, "You are an extraordinary child. I had hoped to adopt you after all this. Why do you think I had shown you my power and brought you here? I wanted you to see this world"

Both Daniel and Danny looked up in surprise.

"Recruiting sons again Vlad?" Danny smirked, "When are you going to learn that you're the worst father ever?"

"A-adopt me?" Daniel repeated stupidly

Suddenly a metallic sound rang nearby. Vlad looked over to see a metal claw grasping the sceptre's golden neck. Attached to the claw was the Spectre Speeder with Sam, Jazz and Tucker inside. Danny seized the chance and grabbed it also. The sceptre was being winched in by the Speeder as Danny pulled it away. Vlad fell forward by the sheer force. He had only one arm and he didn't have enough strength to compete with both Danny and the vehicle.

"NO!' Vlad roared

The Sceptre glowed red and light exploded sending Danny and the Spectre Speeder flying.

"Danny!" Daniel cried as he saw his foster brother being flung away, smoke trailing in his wake.

Vlad passed Daniel to his hand and held him by the scruff of his jacket. Daniel squeaked as he saw the deep darkness below his feet. Vlad's eyes glowed red with power.

Danny shifted his weight so he faced back to Vlad again. His body was aching, sore and strangely tingly as if he had been sunburned. He frowned in determination. He had to get that sceptre off him otherwise there wont be anything left.

The Specter Speeder hovered nearby, the winch damaged. Jazz quickly was running a ship diagnostics to assess the damage that the vehicle had taken.

"What was that?" Sam asked picking herself up off the floor

"I'm getting phenomenal readings from the sceptre. It's a similar energy spike to what we saw with Anubis when we were coming to meet him but much more powerful" Tucker informed pointing to the panel he was looking at, nursing his brused elbow

"Luckily we haven't sustained much damage. The winch on the other hand…" Jazz trailed from the pilot seat

"Vlad's got a new look" Sam muttered  
"Can we shoot him?" Tucker asked  
"Unless you want to put a few holes into Daniel too then, no" Sam retorted

Suddenly Danny phased through the vehicle's hull and landed on the metallic flooring. Sam rushed to his side seeing he looked worse for wear.

"Are you ok?"  
"I'm fine" Danny batted Sam's hand away, "Just sore from the blast"  
"What are we going to do? Looks like Vlad is large and charged!" Tucker exclaimed pointing the halfa

They all turned to look outside through the windshield. They saw Vlad's aura glow red, as his eyes blazed with power as he raised the sceptre. He held Daniel by the scruff of his jacket dangling him above the emptiness of the abyss below. Daniel's sapphire eyes wide with fear.

"All this power! It feel's good! It's the power I have been searching for all my life!" Vlad breathed in as if bathing in the energy boost that the sceptre had released, "I feel... complete"

Vlad pointed the sceptre upwards and power swirled around it before a beam of red light appeared at the tip disappearing into the atmosphere above.

"What is he doing?" Sam asked

Her question was quickly answered by a loud rumble. Then suddenly the whole realm turned from green to red.

"It's time I started shaping the world how I see fit!" Vlad cackled, "Beginning with the Ghost Zone!"

Loud rumbling was heard echoing across the expansive area. The team braced themselves as the Spectre Speeder wobbled along with the zone. Danny saw the remaining ghost home doors started to crumble away, the red wisps that were once green were disappearing. The whole realm was plunging into darkness.

Vlad reached out and pointed the staff towards the Spectre Speeder.

"I can finally destroy anyone and everyone that gets in my way!"

A red light appeared at the tip of the sceptre. Upon seeing Vlad's action, Danny instantly knew what he was going to do. He quickly grabbed some Fenton Phones and dived through the windshield phasing through it. A beam shot out towards them and Danny erected a ghost shield just in time but the sheer force pushed him back onto the Spectre Speeder.

"Danny!" the three chorused

Danny poured all his energy into the shield to stop it from disintegrating from the powerful beam.

"There has to be a shield somewhere on this thing!" Jazz hollered as she started to press every button on the control panel. The ship came alive with working mechanics of cup holders, coffee machines, seat vibrators and windshield wipers but no shield of any kind was coming up.

"I'm fine" Danny's voice came over the intercom along with grunts of exhaustion and pain, "Just get out of here. Vlad is too powerful"

"But Danny-" Jazz began

"GO!" Danny yelled looking at them through the windshield

"Danny! Look" Tucker pointed

Danny looked to where Tucker had pointed and it was his feet. He saw his red shoes were showing and slowly his jeans were appearing too. He was losing power.

"Get out of there Danny!" Sam shouted

Jazz took the controls and guided the Spectre Speeder out of the way but Vlad followed the vehicle forcing Danny to move along with the beam to avoid his friends getting fried.

"You can't win boy!" Vlad sneered, "You're no match for the power of a god!"

Danny's power was rapidly deteriorating, he felt so tired and the shield was disintegrating. But he had to keep going, he had to protect his friends.

"I long awaited for this day! You have been a thorn in my side for too long!"

Jackson, fearful at what will happen to his new foster family and friends decided to try and distract Vlad. Since he was hanging from his own clothing that Vlad was holding on to, it gave him leeway to swing a little. He gradually built momentum but he finally swung high enough to for his feet to reach Vlad's waist. Daniel swung harder and put all his effort into a kick into his stomach.

Vlad grunted and bending over trying to quell the sudden pain.

* * *

Danny looked up towards the beam that was gushing against his shield. His power spent the shield broke away and Danny floated back in utter weakness expecting the beam to burn him alive.

Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes he found the beam had stopped and Vlad was pre-occupied with something else.

Daniel.

Soon hands grabbed him by the arms as he realise he was now beside the Spectre Speeder instead of in front. He was pulled inside where he was greeted by Sam and Tucker.

"Danny! Speak to me!"

Danny sat up weakly from the floor he was on, looking completely worn out, "Daniel, he's-"

"I know" Jazz moved the steering wheel and guided the Specter Speeder towards Vlad. Jazz pressed another button on the control panel and out of the top of the vehicle the Speeder produced a ray gun looking weapon.

"Time to test Dad's Fenton Assault Cannon he installed on this" Jazz smiled at Danny before her face dropped into a serious concentration

The windshield doubled as a holographic screen for the targeting system of the cannon.

"You can't fire on Vlad" Sam protested, "You might hurt Daniel!"

"Well Daniel doesn't have much of a chance if we don't do anything, and besides Mom made me practice shooting everyday. Just in case we ever encounter ghosts without them. Of course I naturally protested-"

"Jazz!" Danny snapped

"Ok! Ok!"

Jazz aimed the cannon and locked on to Vlad. The targeting system beeped in confirmation and Jazz rested her thumb on the trigger.

"Just so you know, I was never really good at shooting practice…"

* * *

Vlad held Daniel by his neck chocking the life out of him. Daniel squirmed and struggled but nothing was effective against his iron grip.

"I gave you everything and this is how you repay me?" Vlad snarled, "If you won't join me, maybe I will make you!"

Vlad rested the head of the sceptre against his forehead. The gold metal was warm to the touch. Daniel's vision was fading, his struggling became less. Panicking he thought he was dying. He half wondered if he was going to be a spirit here in the Ghost Zone. Darkness crept at the corners of his vision, his body became limp as a great tiredness overcame him. All he remembered was a great heat before he fell into darkness.

* * *

Vlad shrieked in pain as the Fenton Assault Cannon fired upon his back. Vlad turned his eyes red with fury and power. In his left hand he held out the Sceptre, it glowed with raw energy and in his right hand was Daniel's limp body.

"Is that all you got? Pitiful, little children! You think you can become between me and ultimate power? You think you can stop me? I have been at this for longer than you have been alive and now that I have it you will not stand in my way!"

From inside the vehicle, Danny got up and grabbed the microphone that was next to the cockpit control panel. He leaned over it aware that his sister was next to him.

"Vlad this is crazy!" Danny reasoned trying to keep the annoyed feelings from his voice, "If you do this the whole world will be destroyed! I don't understand it all myself but if you take that sceptre away the Ghost Zone will go. If the Ghost Zone goes, we do too! It's not worth it!"

Vlad's face twisted in annoyance. "As I expected Daniel, you understand nothing at all. I know that if the Ghost Zone ceases to exist so does the real world. I wasn't born yesterday. I intend to use this power to keep the Ghost Zone but under my own rules"

"The cannon is ready to fire again Danny" Jazz said quietly so her voice wont be picked up by the microphone, "Say the word and I can blast this old fruit loop away"

Danny bit his lip, he knew they couldn't risk firing again while his foster brother was still being held by Vlad. Not to mention Vlad won't listen to any reason, he had power that he wanted and now he wouldn't let it go. It was by Vlad's arrogance that they were still here at all. He knew it wouldn't last long, sooner or later Vlad will use the sceptre to kill them and Danny had no more power left to deflect another attack.

"First rule is creation of my own kingdom!" Vlad bellowed cutting into Danny's thoughts

The sceptre glowed. Soon green ghostly land appeared beneath them. They watched in awe as ghostly vegetation sprang from the ground covering the ground. Then seemingly out of nowhere appeared an aged by 20th century brick mansion. Danny instantly recognised it to be Vlad's mansion, or at least the ghost version of it.

"Second rule is an army of my own" Vlad's voice dipped to a low menacing tone, accompanying a cruel smile upon his face.

From the newly build ghostly land rose a skeletal army, equipped with Ancient Egyptian armour and weaponry. They were strangely akin to Anubis's looks as they bore a Jackal head with dark short fur. Sinew and muscle hung from their humanoid bones. The animated bones howled and growled in response of the life they've been given.

"Oooookay… does anyone get the feeling that this undead army looks like the same one that was features in the Mummy Returns?" Tucker commented feeling the uncanny resemblance

"It wouldn't surprise me that Vlad plagiarises ideas as well" Sam commented flatly

"With that sceptre he can do anything he wants to and no one can stop him" Danny stated, his tone full of contempt

"So what do we do?" Jazz asked

Danny saw three pair of eyes looking at him, expecting him to come up with a plan. His shoulders slumped, feeling the weight of the world upon them. Why did everyone depend on him and expect him to come through with a plan? He had no idea how to over come this. Vlad was large and charged with Anubis's power; a god who created this very world that they now floated in. Anubis asked for his help, hell the being resurrected him, and already Danny was depleted of his own powers.

Despair gripped him and shook his head, "I don't know. We can't defeat him, we can't win against him… not like this"

Sam winced at how hopeless Danny sounded. She saw Jazz's and Tucker's reaction. Their hope extinguished along with Danny's.

"We can't just give up!" Sam snapped, "We've come too far! And not to mention Daniel is still in the hands of that loon!"

Danny looked at her in surprise but then smiled at her annoyed expression, which made Sam more irritable.

"The Danny I know wont give up so easily. You didn't give up when we thought you were dead and sure has hell you're not going to give up now!"

Jazz and Tucker flinched at her mention of Danny's passing but she didn't care. Her attention was on Danny. Danny looked at her thoughtfully and nodded.

"Let work together to make a plan" Sam continued, "I know Anubis asked you but we're here to help. After all it's our world too you know"

"One thing on our side is that Fenton Assault Cannon" Jazz started picking up on the encouragement

"But without my powers…" Danny trailed

"So you'll have to help out like a normal person for a while" Sam shrugged

Danny smiled, "I suppose you're right. Thanks Sam"

Sam returned the smile.

The moment didn't last very long.

"And the third rule, my young foolish children" Vlad announced diverting their attention to him once more, "Is the creation of my own heir"

An icy cold hand gripped Danny's heart making him gasp.

"What does he mean?" Tucker asked upon seeing Danny's reaction.

Vlad let go of Daniel. His pale limp form floated as if gravity was non-existent. Vlad lifted the sceptre his arm poised and muscles tense with potential energy. Danny's eyes grew wide as his thoughts made the connection, his mind's eye seeing the intention Vlad had for Daniel.

"_You are an extraordinary child. I had hoped to adopt you after all this. Why do you think I had shown you my power and brought you here? I wanted you to see this world"_

"No!" Danny yelled

He reached in, digging deep inside himself bring out any little ounce of power he had left. He leapt forward, using his bit of power to turn intangible, just enough to bring his whole body through the windshield once more.

He heard the voices of his friends and family but it was lost in the roaring heartbeat in his ears. Time seemed to slow down as Vlad's arm swung down from its high position, bring down the sceptre along with it.

His vision narrowed. All he saw was Daniel's floating body unaware of the situation that he was in. Unaware of the fate that has been dealt to him.

Danny reached out, feeling the cool skin under his fingers. The sceptre swung down striking flesh and bone. A twang was heard, a bright flash blinded those who watched and a scream was lost among the powerful discharge the sceptre created.

* * *

_To be continued..._

The next chapter will be posted soon :)

Feedback is always appreciated.


	16. Twisted Logic

**A/N: **Hi all. I'm not dead! Yay! I had this chapter sitting in my computer for a while, for a moment I thought I lost it but I found it.

I'm almost done! :D Thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved and placed this story on alert. I hope the next update won't take a year! Ha ha! Sorry if this chapter is a little short. Just working out the kinks in the next part of the story :)

This chatper is un-beta-ed so all mistakes are mine

* * *

Daniel Jackson saw a bright white light appear in the endless sea of darkness. It grew brighter casting its warmth and filling his whole line of vision. He saw two figures appear in front of him, familiar and warm.

"Mom? Dad?" he croaked his voice was stuck in his throat with utter shock

_Son_ his father voice whisper in his ear and the low tones vibrated in his heart.

Tears spilled from his eyes in pure happiness as his sore heart ached with delight. He could feel his parent's warm embrace as he sobbed. The numbing coldness that he had built around his emotions to shield himself all these years melted to reveal a vulnerable and broken heart. He fell to pieces letting himself be immersed in his long dead parents, finally reunited with them after so long of being alone. Minutes, hours, months passed, it didn't matter to him. He could be in his parent's arms forever.

_Oh Danny, my child_ his mother's voice was soothing like honey

"Am I… am I dead?" Daniel sniffed. His last memory was his vision fading into darkness.

_No son, you were in trouble and we came to help_ his father explained

* * *

Sam opened her eyes once the flash passed. Her violet eyes gazed upon the scene before her.

"Danny!" she yelped, bringing Jazz's and Tucker's attention to their friend and brother.

"Oh no" Jazz gasp

"Lets go in before Vlad comes to" Sam commanded rather than suggested but no one really cared. Their priority was their friend and family.

Danny gasped awake, his body aching with pain as if he had woken up the day after body building at the gym. For a moment he was disorientated before he realised what had happened. He looked around to see Vlad groaning and Daniel floating still unconscious. Danny made his way over inspecting his foster brother.

He was relived that he was uninjured and breathing. Scooping the boy in his arms, he turned to the Spectre Speeder as it hovered in close.

Danny manoeuvred himself towards the open side hatch where he was pulled in by Sam and Tucker for the second time.

Danny placed Daniel on the metal floor, his thoughts were full of worry for Daniel. _Did I make it in time? Did I save Daniel from what ever Vlad had planned?_

He realised someone was talking to him, he looked up to see Sam yelling at him, worry clearly etched on her face. He blinked clearing the glazed look from his eyes and returned his troubled thoughts to the present.

"Did you even hear anything that I said?" she snapped

"Er…"

"Ugh!" she lifted her hands to the ceiling 'Hopeless!"

"She was just worried how you just risked yourself" Tucker filled him in, clearly amused by the sudden situation

"But Vlad was-" Danny started

"I know!" Sam forcefully cut in, "But you know, a little warning next time! We almost lost you once today! Please don't make this time permanent!"

Danny flinched and Sam immediately regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.

"I have no intention of leaving" Danny responded in quiet determination, "You worry too much"

Sam folded her arms and looked away, clearly stubborn in her own feelings.

* * *

_We are very proud of you and who you've become._

The ghost known as Melbourne Jackson, Daniel's father, ruffled his son's messy mop of hair. Daniel's heart fluttered at his father's praise.

_But son, time is of the essence,_ his father continued

_The sceptre…_his mother began her features full of worry

"What about it?" Daniel asked

_Anubis is real Daniel!_ His father exclaimed rather excitedly, _But he needs the sceptre. It is his power. He is responsible for carrying souls to the afterlife. Ancient ghosts from the Ghost Zone, long ago, fought with Anubis, believing he was a threat. They didn't know he was this realm's guardian. No one could defeat Anubis since he was an all-powerful being until a group of ghosts banded together trapping Anubis. They drew his power away and into a close by object, which was his Sceptre. They sealed his power into it and Anubis was severely weakened._

_They hid it from him, casting a spell so Anubis couldn't sense it or find it, _his mother continued, _Anubis used the remainder of his power to maintain the Ghost Zone, knowing this world would crumble and the balance would be shifted if the spirit realm ceased to exist. _

His father pushed up his ghostly glasses and continued on_, Anubis has being trying to carry out his duties but with every passing century his remaining power grows weaker and the ghost zone is becoming unstable. He is responsible for carrying souls to the afterlife, but you already know this._

"How did you-?"

_We've always been near you my boy. Let's just say you weren't the only one attempting to translate the tablet in your room._ His father's voice was smug

"You mean you were with me and you never tried to contact me?" Daniel suddenly felt hurt

_Honey we've tried, _ his mother's voice whispered in pain, _But…. but we couldn't even touch you let alone talk to you…._

"Mom…" he tried to stop her from continuing. Her pain filled voice was almost too much for him to bear. He realised then they had been suffering just as much if not more than he had been. He could only imagine seeing a loved one in pain and not being able to do a thing about it. He looked down in shame

_Son, there is plenty of time to talk later, right now we have help your friends and Anubis. It's only by the power of Anubis' sceptre that were are able to make contact like this._

Daniel looked up to see his father's determined expression. His eyes full of hot tears again as he stared upon their faces. Oh man, it just how he remembered them on the morning before the accident. His mother wearing her large gold rimmed glasses and her hair tied back with a bandanna. Overalls covered her clothing. Her smile is just how he'd remembered it, when she told him to go play while they were working on the exhibit.

His father, much like him was squarish and rugged. His eyes were also framed with dark brown glasses. He was also decked out in overalls to keep any dirt at bay when the exhibit was being put into place.

The Ancient Egypt exhibit his parents were setting up after a recent archaeological dig that they had lead. Only 8 years old he saw them being crushed to death by a big cover stone piece that was being moved into place by a crane. With his own two ears he heard their screams, with own two legs he ran towards them, with his own two eyes he saw their hands, arms and legs sticking out and… and crimson blood pooling from below the stone. Soaking into the brown stone, gushing on the tile floor, dripping into the cracks and gaps… staining everything with the bright red liquid of life… their life…

Their blood...

_Daniel._

His mind returned to the present with tears streaming down his face, sniffing to stop his nose from following the same route. He never wanted to remember that moment.

Ever.

He'd blocked it out and shoved it in the corner of his mind where it could no longer hurt him or bring him anymore pain. He once again enclosed it within the coldness of his heart. He wiped his tears away and took deep breaths, slid his mask back in place, like he had done so many times in the past_._

_Your friends need you._ His mother spoke quietly

_We need you._ His father added gently

_You need to recite the text you translated backwards,_

_Both worlds need Anubis's power to be restored_

_Otherwise the balance of life and death will be forever altered._

_And we will never rest in peace._

_No living soul will ever rest in peace._

_We're proud of you Daniel. Our son saving the world…_His mother's voice was filled with pride

Daniel shook his head feeling overwhelmed, "I don't remember the tablet backwards!"

_We'll help you._ His father told him

_We're always here for you._ His mother added

Daniel's heart thumped. It felt odd in the black void his parent's death had left behind. He looked at his Mom and Dad, not daring to hope that he would see them after this but at least he wanted to make them proud of something that he did, instead of being a giant screw up all the time. He nodded feeling a sense of purpose, "Where's the sceptre?"

_Open your eyes._

* * *

Daniel woke up instantly sitting up, his mind taking the scenery before him. He was in a metal ship. He saw three sets of eyes on him. He recognised them to be his friends he had come to know.

Sam's violet eyes and angular features were full of relief and happiness. Tucker's emerald eyes and round dark face held relief as he crouched down beside him. Danny's light blue eyes were full of relief but held tiredness and fatigue.

"Where am I?" Daniel asked

"In the Spectre Speeder" Jazz responded from her place in the pilot seat, turning to him.

"Vlad..." Daniel trailed, remembering what Vlad had told him, how we shown him this place, wielded the sceptre, wanted to adopt him… almost killed him.

_Bit of a psychopath…_ Daniel summed up what he thought about the old halfa

"We'll get him" Danny reassured cutting into his thoughts, "We just needed a plan of attack, to get the sceptre off him"

_The Sceptre, his parents… his duty!_

"The Sceptre!" Daniel yelled climbing to his knees "Slow down!" Sam pushed him down, "You were attacked and knocked out by Vlad"

"But…" Daniel protested

"We'll stop him" Danny reassured, "We just need a plan of attack"

"But… this is all my fault" Daniel slumped down his shoulders defeated, "I practically help that man to get the sceptre. If I never came along this would have never happened. I'm practically a walking curse"

"Vlad is up to his usual tricks. He took advantage of all of us, your situation and my sickness to single you out and convince you otherwise" Danny reasoned feeling sorry for his foster brother, "Believe me I know. Don't blame yourself, Vlad is a very good at manipulating people, myself included"

Jackson wasn't really listening. He couldn't help but feel guilty. Instead of helping and getting out of the Fenton's way, he was now apart and contributor of this whole mess. He was angry at himself knowing he was a good judge of character but as soon as Vlad offered something he really wanted he ignored all his gut feelings, desperate to obtain a normal life. He felt so stupid for falling for something so obvious. He felt stupid for believing in someone. He had done that so many times before and was often let down. For some reason he wanted this time to be different but it was all the same in the end.

Hot tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. Upon seeing his emotions a hand touched his shoulder but he moved away. His sadness soon replaced with anger. White hot anger. He climbed to his feet, aware that everyone was looking at him; wary of his sudden emotional change.

_We're hear for you_, he heard his mother's voice murmured quietly in his mind, her soothing voice watering down the flames of anger.

"I'm…" Daniel trailed as he felt emotionally drained. Numbness filled his heart and he clung to it so he wouldn't feel the hurt and rejection he had received from Vlad. "I'm sorry. Let's just say this isn't the first time I have been rejected" Daniel kept his voice even trying offer an explanation to his mood swing, "And it never gets any easier"

Jackson glanced up to see Danny's face, which was filled wither determination and anger blazing in his eyes. He looked away quickly unable to handle another raw emotion but he knew righteous anger when he saw it.

Danny went through a flood of emotions towards his foster brother until he came to an understanding. He knew they had gone off to a shaky start and he had been quick to judge. Danny realised that under the anger was an insecure and vulnerable teen, just like him. What ever happened to his foster brother had to be very tragic and Danny couldn't imagine a life without his family and his friends. He placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

Daniel smiled in response to his touch and didn't move away, "The sceptre, I know how to release it"

With the subject change Danny withdrew his hand, "What do you mean?"

"I know the sceptre is Anubis's and I know he's the one who maintains this Ghost Zone" Daniel quickly explained, "His power is trapped within the sceptre. I know it's a relic of his power but when the other ghosts took some of his power they sealed it in the sceptre and hid it away"

"Is this what you were translating for Vlad?" Sam asked pulling out a crumpled piece of paper and handed over to him

"The Release Spell!" He exclaimed and snatched it away in excitement

"Hold up! Release Spell?" Tucker asked, "What do you mean?"

Seeing they were waiting for an explanation he opened his mouth to launch into one, but was interrupted by clunking sounds and sudden jolts.

"We're under attack!" Jazz yelped

They all looked past the windshield to see the Vlad's Jackal army rushing towards them.

* * *

Vlad groaned, pain raked his body as his mind became aware of the waking world. He felt the sceptre under his fingers, he gripped it tighter feeling the power rush up his arm and into his being.

He opened his eyes to see the land he had created and the army that stood attention. He looked across and saw no hide or hair from either Danny or Daniel. The Spectre Speeder floated a good few meters away, meaning that the boys and their friends were in there.

Vlad couldn't remember what had happened. He had every intention of making Daniel his son, even if it meant controlling him. He had ultimate power; he can do anything and have anything he wanted. He wasn't sure the sceptre stuck Daniel since Danny came in.

Either way his plan failed.

White hot fury surged through him.

He would make them pay, he would make them all pay!

_They will taste and fear my power!_

Vlad raised the sceptre and the army howled in response. Vlad grinned evilly knowing that nothing could stop him.

"Attack!" he commanded

The army of jackels responded and floated up towards the Sceptre Speeder.

"If you won't join me Daniel… I'll make you!"

* * *

"Jazz!" Danny yelped as he had to rearrange his footing to avoid falling to the floor

"I'm going, I'm going!" Jazz snapped back pulling at the steering wheel,

Another jolt rocked everyone down to the floor. Jazz pushed a few buttons on the control panel. The reverse thrusters whirred in activation.

"Fasten your seatbelts" Jazz quipped

The four teens picked themselves up and grabbed onto the in flight seats and did as advised. A sudden jolt lurch them forwards and the legion of undead jackals was getting smaller, thankfully they were out running them. Jazz cut the thrusters making them all hit their seats hard.

A chorus of groans and yelps were heard in protest.

"Sorry" Jazz offered, "I haven't really had much practice driving this thing"

"Jazz, just go!" Danny dismissed with a sense of urgency seeing that the supernatural army was approaching once more.

Jazz activated the forward thrusters and steered away from the creatures. The G force hit them again as they suddenly accelerated Danny felt a little relieved that they were getting further and further away from those creatures again. With his power spent he had no way to fight them. Their only chance was to escape and get out of the Ghost Zone. They needed to regroup and think up a plan or at least 'borrow' some of his parent's anti-ghost weapons to fight Vlad. At the moment they had nothing to go up against Vlad and the untold power he had now wielded.

Suddenly a white flash made them look away for a brief moment. Jazz recovered only to see a giant ghost rock in their way.

"Look out!"

It was so sudden and so close that Jazz slammed the brake on and turned to swerve the vehicle out of the way.

The vehicle's speed and manoeuvrability was out of favour with Jazz as she couldn't avoid the rock in time.

Jazz's heart leaped, her split second thought was her brother since he was to her right and the Specter Speeder was going to get the brunt of the rock on the right side thanks to the poor steering capabilities.

Next thing she knew was loud noise and screaming. She felt something hard hit her head, pain exploded and her mind instantly fell into darkness.

A laughing cackle echoed into her subconscious.

* * *

_Daniel_

"I don't want to go to school" Daniel moaned

_Get up!_

"But mom…"

_Get up now!_

Daniel slowly woke up, cracking open his eyes. Instantly his head throbbed and he realised he was on the floor. Disorientated he tried to move but pain instantly shot up from his leg. He hissed in pain and looked down to see a hint of white sticking out of his skin.

He blinked at it for a few moments before he realised he was seeing his own bone sticking out of his leg.

His brain registered immense pain and he took in a sharp breath. He looked around assessing his situation. He saw everyone else in the same boat. To the right of him as bits of metal and rock and he assumed that's where the cause of the all this damage had come from.

His foggy mind cleared and he realised where he was and what had happened.

He undid his seatbelt wanting to check on everyone else but stopped when his red hot fire raced up from his leg. He yelped tears stinging at the corner of his eyes. He gasped trying to cope with the pain he was in.

Knowing it was useless to try and move he looked over to his right and saw Danny. The vehicle took brunt of the damage on that side and from here Daniel saw he was relatively unharmed, except for the long piece of metal embedded into his shoulder and sticking out from behind the chair.

Daniel felt sick at the sight; his mind couldn't comprehend the sight and feeling of being impaled. He thanked what ever god was on their side that Danny hadn't woken up yet. If he did, he would be in unbearable pain.

He looked over to all of them from the limited view he had. He couldn't see Jazz or Tucker really well but he knew there were better off than he or Danny was. Sam was to the left of him and could see she copped a nasty head injury but until she woke up he didn't know what else she could have.

"You could've prevented all of this"

Daniel looked around to see Vlad standing in the middle of the carnage. His ghostly aura illuminated a pinky red that shone through the dim wreckage. His smile curled into a smug.

"You… you did this?" Daniel gaped at him

"You forced my hand Daniel. I had to stop this vehicle somehow" Vlad shrugged as if it was nothing

"So you put a big rock in our way so we would crash into it?" Daniel was completely bewildered

"A bit excessive. I didn't think this thing could go so fast," Vlad leaned over Danny inspecting his impaled shoulder.

"A bit excessive?" Daniel roared, "You could've killed us, don't you have any regard for life? At all?"

Vlad moved away from Danny and approached him.

"You're crazy!" Daniel continued his mind trying to comprehend the old halfa before him

"Perhaps" Vlad murmured, "But this fits in well with my offer"

"What offer…?' Daniel trailed feeling as sense of dread

"To become my son"

"What!" Daniel spluttered

"If you agree to be my son, to be loyal and serve me than I will spare your friends lives" he gestured

"You really are crazy! What make you think I will agree!" he growled, "You tricked me already, made me believe you to do what you wanted me to do and now you want me to trust you again?"

Vlad turned away and leaned over Sam to inspect her still form.

"She wont last for too long" Vlad stated, "She has sustained some internal injuries"

Daniel's heart plummeted filling with dread.

"It's the same with young Tucker here. His shoulder looks out of place, same with his knee. Not to mention Jasmine has suffered a severe concussion. Who knows if she will have long lasting brain damage from that knock, it looks quite dreadful"

Vlad glanced over to Daniel seeing the emotional turmoil on the youngster's face. He walked over to Fenton again and shook his head.

"Not to mention how painful for young Daniel here to have to pull that metal out and stop himself from bleeding to death. I suspect he has as more internal injuries as well. He took the brunt of the impact" Vlad continued

Daniel looked down to his own throbbing broken leg. He knew that if they wouldn't get out of here alive. They all need medical attention.

Vlad stood back up looking straight at the boy.

"Join me. Become my son. I will do as I promised you. I will give you a home, a proper education and the stability you had always wanted" Vlad offered, "In return, all I ask is loyalty and love that is expected from a son. If agreed I will spare these lives. I will heal them with the sceptre and they will live again"

Daniel saw he had no choice. He couldn't let his friends die while he could do something about it. Even if it meant sacrificing his life to fulfil an old man's wish.

A groan snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked over. He saw that Danny was coming to. He watched as Danny became aware and tried to move. He yelped when he realised there was a piece of metal pinning him to his seat. He breathed heavily, dried blood covered his face stiffening and itching at his skin.

Daniel grimaced as his foster brother coughed, deep crimson splurged from his mouth.

"Alright, I agree" Daniel said finally. He couldn't live himself if his friends died because of him.

Vlad smiled. He approached Danny once more and grabbed the twisted metal rod. Danny noticed his presence and looked at him. He opened his mouth to say something but Vlad yanked the rod, pulling it out screamed in agony but soon it died down to groaning and heavy breathing. Vlad winced feeling a pang of remorse. Without a word, Vlad held the Sceptre in front of him and he was bathed in warm healing light.

Vlad put Danny to sleep with the Sceptre hoping to spare the child anymore pain. No matter how malicious he was, he never liked to see the raw pain. It made him uneasy.

Vlad healed each child in turn, ending with Daniel, his new son. Daniel felt a warm soothing light from the sceptre. He felt no pain but could feel his muscles and bones knitting themselves together, correcting and setting themselves in the proper place.

"If you break out of our deal, I won't hesitate to kill them" Vlad warned, "They've been a nuisance for too long. Pawns out live their usefulness quite quickly"

Daniel nodded knowing how crazy he was. If he was crazy enough to stop them with a boulder and almost killing them, he was crazy enough to do anything. Daniel didn't know the man too well, but he knew an obsessive and dangerous person when he saw one.

He got up and tested his leg. No pain came to him. He felt strangely rejuvenated as if he woken up without any soreness or tiredness.

Vlad placed a hand around Daniel's shoulders. Daniel tensed but didn't move away. He wanted to run away and never see this horrible place again, but he allowed Vlad to do what he wanted.

For the sake of his friends.

Once outside the wreckage, Daniel could see how much of a mess the Spectre Speeder was in and it was a miracle that they even survived it in the first place. It was basically a pile of twisted metal and glass. He felt Vlad's arm hook around his waist and Vlad launched them into the darkness of the Ghost Zone.

He looked back, his expression was full of worry. He had hoped that they would make it out ok.

* * *

Danny's mind surfaced from the darkness and soon be became aware of his surroundings. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the lighting. He was a bit confused until he was hit with the sudden memory of metal embedded his shoulder.

His hand instantly flew to his shoulder to find nothing there. He looked to see a hole in his shirt with his pale skin showing no scars or any sign there had been an injury.

He sat up and found he had no pain at all. He half wondered if the accident was a dream but looking around him, it was very real. He felt some stiffness on his face. He wiped a dry gritty substance off his cheek before inspecting it with his hand.

It was dried blood.

He looked down to see where blood had stained his white shirt, oxidizing and turning brown. He wondered if acquired some new healing ability but soon dismissed that when he saw his friends and sister in the same situation as him.

They were also arousing from sleep. He watched them as they checked themselves for injury carrying the confusion that he did.

"Is everyone ok?" Danny asked

Three pairs of eyes looked towards him.

"I feel really… good…" Tucker's brow wrinkled in confusion

"Me too" Sam added, "But we just crashed…"

"It's not logical" Jazz scratched at the dried blood on her forehead, "We should be dead or severely injured"

Danny rubbed his shoulder feeling the fabric of his shirt and the skin that was completely mended.

"I had a piece of metal in my shoulder" Danny said quietly, "I remember that but some-"

Danny's eyes went wide when a hazy memory hit him. His shoulder throbbed in phantom pain when the metal rod was pulled out.

"Daniel?" Sam called

Danny looked over to see Daniel's chair completely empty. The only evidence that there was anyone occupying that seat was dried blood.

"Where is he?" Tucker asked

"Vlad" Danny's face darkened

Jazz blinked, "Do you think?"

"I don't know but I do remember Vlad taking the metal pole out of my shoulder" Danny explained remembering how much it had hurt, "Then I remember being warm and feeling tired"

"This rock came from nowhere after that flash" Jazz supplied, "Do you think Vlad had something to do with that?"

"It wouldn't surprise me" Sam crossed her arms, "I bet he blackmailed Daniel into doing something he didn't want to"

"Using us as leverage!" Danny growled feeling rage building. _When will the manipulation end? _

"For what?" Tucker asked

"One guess. What does Vlad what more than anything in the world?" Danny asked

"Your mom" Tucker answer

Danny wasn't looking for that answer but it was true, "Ok, the second thing he wants in this world"

"You" Sam answered

"But why?" Danny continued, hoping steer them to the right answer

"Because you're mom's son and he because he thinks mom should've been his and you and I would be… his kids" Jazz blinked at the revelation her genius mind was finally getting over the shock of the accident.

"He wanted me more than you because of my ghost powers. We're more alike in that way" Danny made a sour face

"So you're saying he wanted Daniel as a son?" Tucker asked in disbelief

Danny nodded, "He realised he will never get me, or Jazz for that matter, to fill that void. Remember how he tried to clone me and horribly he failed? He'd began to obsess over having his own child. Even if he wasn't blood related to himself"

"But why Daniel?" Jazz asked, "He's just a boy that we saw was in need of a family…"

"Because of Daniel's background" Sam explained, "He once told me his father was an archaeologist. Daniel had a ton of stuff on Ancient Egypt and other ancient history. And it seems with the translation he did, he somewhat bilingual as well"

"He is super smart, so?" Tucker shrugged

"Vlad knew he could manipulate Daniel. Something happened to him to be in the social service system. I'm not sure if Vlad knows what had happened but he knew Daniel's weakness" Danny explained, "Vlad tricked Daniel by giving him an offer he couldn't refuse"

"Not to mention you and Daniel fought a lot" Jazz mentioned, "He must've thought Daniel was perfect. A smart orphan who needed a family and hated you"

"Only because Danny was a jerk" Sam folded her arms again

"Ok! Ok!" Danny held his hands up in surrender, "I didn't mean to, he was always so… angry"

"Something bad must've really happened" Tucker said quietly

Danny fell silent feeling a pang of guilt but continued onwards, "When I was sick, when I got infected with Dad's invention Vlad probably thought it was a good time to make his move"

Danny remembered his parents telling him what had happened after he had woken up. How guilty his father had been. Danny was use to avoiding their gadgets and he had hoped that his father wouldn't make an invention that would give him any diseases again.

"Daniel seemed a bit distant when you were sick. I thought it was his way of coping, with everything" Sam admitted cutting into Danny's thoughts

"Probably it is" Jazz muttered, "He did say he was leaving in a week, remember?"

"Yeah that was weird…" Danny frowned, "I thought he was being overly dramatic"

"Maybe it had something to do with Vlad or maybe something is happening to him and we'd ignored it…" Sam trailed.

"As much as I like to discuss the "what-ifs" we should really get going to find Vlad" Tucker rose from his seat stretching and testing his body

"We have to get that sceptre off him" Sam stated

"But how?" Jazz asked gesturing to their surroundings, "It's not like we can go out and find him with this"

A flash and a familiar sound rang in the air. They looked over to see Danny changed into his ghost form.

"Looks like Vlad restored my power too when he healed us" Danny smirked, "His arrogance knows no bounds"

"Or it could be a side effect, since your ghost powers and the Sceptre powers are the same thing" Jazz surmised

"Either way, I've got them back and it will make travelling a lot easier" Danny grinned

* * *

To be continued...

Please review or leave a comment on what you think!


	17. Ultimate Power and Epilogue

Danny carried his friends and sister through the dark ghost zone. The endless space was lit by a dull red glow that came from everywhere and nowhere. Danny's fight or flight response kicked in as soon as they saw the approaching Jackal legion and chose any direction that was opposite to the enemy. Without any doors or visible landmarks he had no idea where he was and the only signs of afterlife was the floating islands the dotted the expansive space.

His speed was drastically reduced due to four passengers. He carried Tucker with both arms under the Technogeek's armpits with Jazz and Sam sat upon his back. He was glad for the supernatural strength he possessed otherwise this wouldn't be possible. Sweat formed on his head unnecessarily cooling his ghostly cold skin and he shivered in response. He knew his human side was showing through his powers meaning he was at his limit of power. He couldn't keep this up any longer.

"Come on Danny go faster!" Sam urged clearly unaware the stress Danny's body was under

"I'm trying!" Danny growled, "But Tucker seems to eaten too many Nasty Burgers!"

"Hey I resent that!" Tucker yelled, "I'm on a strict meat diet!"

Sam groaned, "No wonder you've packed on the pounds"

"What? Meat isn't-"

"Guys this isn't the time!" Jazz snapped as yellow ecto-energy balls whizzed passed them.

The legion swift mindlessly pursued their enemy, feet sprinted in mid air as they held their stickle weapons beside them at the ready. Their skeletal forms lacked no strength as meat, fur and sinew swung and whipped in the rush of air that their motion created. They snarled, white broken teeth glistening in the ghostly red light of the black Ghost Zone. They howled a fierce war cry as red eye glowed with power and anger.

Only moments before they were a mere cloud in the distance and now they were rapidly approaching like a swarm of wasps.

"Looks like we'll have to fight them" Sam he voice wavering pulling out a ghost ray gun from her hip

Jazz nodded, thankful that the Spectre Speeder carried a few weapons on board. They salvaged what they could from the ship before heading off.

Some of the more muscular members of the legion, who were more complete then their skeletal counterparts, raised their stickle staffs and fired yellow bolts from their weapons.

Hot echo-energy whizzed passed them, the girls ducked as Tucker waved around his dangling legs to avoid collision. Danny felt the searing heat of a bolt pass his cheek.

"Try to keep them off me!" Danny ordered his adrenaline driving his fear from his mind sharpening his mind.

He had to focus on escaping them and avoiding their attacks. He used his ghostly sense, the same response that alerts him to a presence of a ghost, to figure out how far away the legion was and how close the ecto bolts were. He figured out that with his ghost sense (after the spine tingling shiver) he could use it as a GPS to locate other ghosts or where a bouts they were in a certain proximity. It wasn't an accurate in any way but since he couldn't turn to face their enemies at the moment it was the best he could do in avoiding their attacks. He also had to compensate for the three passengers he carried with him.

Jazz picked up her weapon, a large two hand blaster and fired at the swarm. Hot energy blasts tore through bone and muscle, burning fur and charing marrow. Some Jackals fell behind as the blasts force them back as others seemed to shrug it off and kept going barely wavering from their narrow minded pursuit. Sam aimed her weapon with practiced ease, thankful that playing video games, such as Doomed, had increased her skill. She effortlessly aimed for the more vulnerable parts on the creatures, thankful that these were energy weapons with a set charge time and not based on ammo. The Jackals were incredibly tough, and took a lot of energy bullets to take down.

The Jackals leaders returned fire with their own bolts and Danny avoided them the best he could. Sam narrowly missed one shot as a sharp smell of singed hair passed in it's wake. Fury and determination crossed her face and she fired back with more ferocity.

"Damn Jackals!" she swore. Her violet eyes hard with determination and venom, she picked off a few more Jackals that were coming in close, "Yes! Headshot!… Take that!… Oh yeah, pwnd!"

"And she says playing video games was a time waster" Tucker rolled his eyes

* * *

The silence was deafening as the Ghost Zone was devoid of all spirit life. The skies were pitch black, plunging into the depths below Daniel's dangling feet. He felt the rush of wind against his face, his sloppy clothing whipped around him but the sound of rushing wind never came. It felt strange to see the whole realm lit up with a red tinge that had no source and small tiny green unearthly lands quickly pass.

Pushing the uneasy feeling aside he kept calm trying not to squirm in Vlad's tight grip. He was held by his torso, tucked under Vlad's arm. He knew the old man was strong now he had the power of the Sceptre at his command and he made the effort of not attracting the Fruit Loop's attention. He was on opposite side of the sceptre; Vlad held him in his left arm while he held the Sceptre on his right. The Halfa held a devilish vampire smirk but said nothing, content in the silence the trip was creating.

The silence was defending.

Daniel knew he wasn't going to escape any time soon so he concentrated on reciting the tablet translation backwards. He was so close to the Sceptre that if he could release the power now then everything would be restored. The problem was if he pissed Vlad off, with the old man right next to him, there was no telling what he could do or even if the reversal spell would work. He suddenly felt scared and squeezed his blue eyes shut.

_Mom, Dad… I need you, _he silently prayed hoping the whispers of his parents would appear in his mind. He felt warm and he smiled.

Filled with confidence he started to murmur under his breath, hoping it was low enough that Vlad couldn't hear, "Na'tu nah Amok…"

_What was the next line?_ He couldn't remember, he couldn't risk looking at the crumpled note in his pocket he took from Sam earlier.

"Na'tu nah Amok…" He felt frustrated. If only he knew it backwards then this whole nightmare would be over and he could go back home.

_Home? I don't have a home… or did I mean the Fenton's home?_

"Did you say something Daniel?" Vlad's voice was strong and full of authority

Daniel's heart fluttered in panic.

"No" Daniel answered trying to keep the fear from his voice, "I was commenting to myself on how different this world was"

"It is very different. It has a variety of species and legends. It's almost like a photo negative of Earth but obvious differences" Vlad explained

"I would like to learn all about it" Daniel said with a lot of truth. He truly did want to explore this world from a cultural sense.

"I would be pleased to show it all to you, now that I have the ultimate power" Vlad said proudly

Daniel cringed. He let silence fall between them, half wondering why they just didn't teleport around the place. Vlad all the power in the ghostly world, it wasn't a stretch.

"Look at this trip as a first exploration and our first father and son bonding experience" Vlad announced with a soft tone

"Father and son bonding?" Daniel swallowed feeling sick. He focused on the task he needed to do and blurted out, "Where are we going?"

"To Far Reach"

"What's that?" Daniel frowned, feeling like he had heard that name from a fictional novel he once read.

"The edge of this world my boy, no ghost could ever reach it. With the Sceptre I've increased our speed one hundred fold so we may get there soon"

Daniel frowned, "We are? It doesn't feel fast"

Vlad shrugged, "You should have worked out by now that the laws of physics don't apply here, whose to say we're not going at lighting speed?"

_Daniel._

The young boy closed his eyes and the memory of his parents flooded his mind.

_We're here for you._

He had almost forgotten his original task of releasing the Sceptre's power. Daniel opened his mouth to start the release spell and the strange language spilled from his lips.

Vlad stopped and looked at Daniel in bewilderment. He had his eyes closed and talking in a foreign language as if he had been possessed by a demon in some b-grade movie. Confused he let go of the boy and he floated away as if he was in zero gravity. Daniel didn't stop but kept going as if nothing around him mattered.

Suddenly a bright light illuminated the area. Vlad looked over and saw the source of this light was his own sceptre. He felt the metallic item grow warm within his hand.

"...Ra, shalmek rata ma'ti..." Daniel chanted

Vlad felt the power drain from him into the sceptre.

"No! What are you doing!" the old halfa roared

He went to grab the boy to interrupt the strange chanting but he was suddenly confronted by a large green ghost with ruggish features and dark rimmed glasses. He wore overalls and had messy brown hair. Vlad saw the familiarity right away. The ghost looked a lot like Daniel.

"How dare you kidnap my son" the ghost glared, "We may be dead but he deserves a better life"

In shock at the ghost entity in front of him, Vlad didn't know what to say to that.

Suddenly the Sceptre brightened like the sun and Vlad felt his own power being sucked out of him. He immediately released it in fear of loosing his own ghostly being. The Sceptre floated away out of his reach. Vlad knew he had to stop the boy. What ever he was saying, it was doing something to the Sceptre and taking away his claim to ultimate power.

Rage filled the old Halfa as his red eyes glared at the fatherly ghost.

"You dare oppose me?" a sinister smile crept across his face, "I will make you regret ever crossing paths with me"

Vlad shot hot pink ecto-rays and the other ghost lazily raised a shield and kept it up.

"You'll have to do better than that old man"

Vlad raised his hands, gathering ghostly energies to them. His red eyes glowed with fury as he floated back to create distance for his attack. Daniel's father, Melburn, backed up and readied himself for an onslaught. Vlad shot powerful ecto-beams at his opponent and the other ghost snapped up a shield up. The hot bolts dissipated against the hardened ectoplasm. In an instant Melburn brought down the shield and rushed forward, his fist powered with green energy. Vlad easily blocked the punch, and blocked the consecutive blows confident in his training of self defence.

Seeing an opening Vlad charged his fist with ecto energy and hitting the ghost on the jaw. The power filled punch sent the parent flying. Not missing a beat Vlad flew after the ghost with a follow up kick, driving his opponent into a nearby island. He instantly dove down like a missile, his arms charged with ecto power, to pummel the ghost into ground.

"You will regret ever crossing me, you pathetic little worm!" Vlad snarled eyes glowed with rage.

Melburn rolled away in time barely missing the punch but the shockwave from the power collision pushed him a few meters. Spluttering the ghost got up only to find Vlad in his face again. Melburn reacted with a quick shield but his hasty attempt was shattered as Vlad easily broke through his weak shield punching this gut and then his face. Melburn fell onto he ground, tasting the dusty pebbles of dirt in his mouth.

Vlad sneered at the pitiful life form and kicked him in glee. Vlad kicked him again satisfied with the rush of breath and a defeated groan. Seeing his victory he turned away to deal with the boy and reaffirm his authority.

"YOU WILL PAY!" a voice screamed

Vlad turned to find another ghost charging towards him. He easily erected a shield, defecting any attack it made. The ghost was female, dressed in the same clothing as the male ghost. He saw the familiarly in her eyes.

"So it looks like Daniel's parents have come back from the dead" Vlad sneered

"You dare attack my son!" the female ghost, Claire, shrilled, "I will never let you take him! He is too good for the likes of such vermin as you!"

"It seems worms don't know their place!" Vlad sneered nastily

"Claire" Melburn coughed struggling to get up from the ground

Vlad smiled a toothy vampire smile, "I will mould your son to be mine. He will be obedient and loyal to me, he will learn to be deceptive, manipulative and how to gain everything that he deserves. I will also give him the best gift of all. To become a Halfa, like me"

"NO!" Claire charged forward as her fear transferred to anger

Vlad just grinned.

She viciously attacked him. She landed a few blows but due to her rage her movements were un-coordinated and wide, leaving a lot of room for Vlad to land a few punches, most were charged with energy. Melburn staggered to his feet with his eyes heated with rage. He charged his hands with powerful green ecto energy and with deadly accuracy, he hit Vlad in the chest. The Halfa was knocked to the side, wind rushed out of his lungs. He resisted his human impulse to re-inflate his lungs and got up. He raised a small localised shield to block an Ecto punch from Claire, then pulled up another to block a second punch.

The fatherly ghost leapt forward to join the effort in defeating Vlad when suddenly a hand gripped his ghostly heart. He stopped and looked to his wife who at the same fear in her eyes. He knew this feeling. It's the same feeling they've had since their death. It was an ghostly sense like no other. When they felt this sense they knew when their son was in trouble and what caused it. It was impulse; a power that drew them and they couldn't stop it.

In unison they turned around to find a second Vlad lunging at Daniel. They both shot forward, knowing they had to reach their only child before it was too late.

Vlad's evil laugh cackled in their ears.

* * *

Sam and Jazz were firing at the Jackal soldiers, trying to keep the legion at bay. The army approached closed and closer, as their efforts were becoming fruitless. Every time they picked off a Jackal, another took it's place. Finally one Jackal was close enough to swing it's deadly stickle to decapitate Sam. Sam ducked with a squeal. Jazz quickly filled the Jackal's head with energy bullets, before turning to shoot another that was close.

"Danny!" Sam shouted, "Go faster!"

Danny didn't respond. His concentration was narrowed in staying afloat. He felt his power wavering, he dug in deeper into his core but he knew that he was almost spent. He ignored the sweat that soaked his cold skin, his aching arms and his blurry vision. He breathed hard as his human functions were returning to him. He knew he was going to change back at any moment. He saw a large land mass on approach and turn towards it.

"Danny!" he heard someone shout

He felt power drain from his arms and he almost stopped. He knew that he no longer had his supernatural strength or flight. He felt his form changing from his feet but he kept going hoping to get everyone to safety. Suddenly he felt white hot energy burn his side. His yelp of pain was mixed with everyone else's frightened scream. His body turned, he desperately clutched Tucker as his vision swerved towards the black sky. The feeling of freefall made him snap out of his daze. Instinct took over and he reached inside himself but nothing was there.

As quickly as it had started he hit solid ground, his body froze in shock and the air left his lungs. Unable to stop the physics that were applied his momentum pushed him across the dusty ground and for a moment he was disorientated, until he realised he was tangled in the branches of a bush. Then at once his body burst out in pain. With the numbing gone his body ached from the fall. He could feel the burning sensation of a graze on his cheek and arms and the overall throbbing of abuse.

He just laid there, baby blue eyes staring at the darkness above him. He couldn't move, he wanted to pick himself off the ground but he couldn't lift a finger. His chest was tight and protested with every breath. His mind dazed his instincts once again screamed at him so he reached into his core but found nothing. He was completely drained of energy. Danny tried to fight the fog of darkness but he felt himself slipping away.

As his eyes slid closed he could hear the howling and the roar of Jackals just above him.

_I'm sorry_

He plunged into darkness.

* * *

Vlad raced over to where Daniel was. He had sent a clone to deal with his parents so he would be free to stop the boy before all Sceptre's power was gone. He approached the boy who was spoke an ancient language, unbeknownst to all it was used by an evil parasitic race thousands of years ago.

Vlad closed his hands around the boy's throat. Daniel gasped as the words and air were cut off. Vlad allowed himself a feeling of small satisfaction that Daniel was being rightfully punished.

"You insolent child!" Vlad snarled increasing the pressure on the boy's neck almost wanting it to snap in two, "How dare you defy me! I gave you a chance and now you throw it away? For what? Stupidities?"

Daniel let out a strangled scream, his eyes full of tears as his lungs burned for air. Vlad shook the boy's small form with rage. He saw Daniel was starting to pass out so he let him go and Daniel collapsed like a sack of potatoes, gasping and spluttering for air.

Vlad's cold hard red eyes looked down on the pathetic life form beneath him, "I will not kill you, but for your defiance I will destroy all the ties you have with everyone, starting with your parents"

Daniel looked up at him with pure fear.

"Then I will torture Danny and his family. I will make them suffer for what you did. I will kill them all nice and slow so you can watch. Well maybe not Maddie, but especially Jack"

"No" Daniel rasped weakly

"Then I will kill Sam and Tucker, and perhaps their whole family too" Vlad grinned cruelly "It's so easy to phase through their walls and kill them in their sleep. There is nothing to stop me."

Daniel paled in utter shock.

"And you could've avoided it all if you had obeyed me. If you did what was agreed, but now you will learn the hard way"

"Daniel!" a voice howled

Daniel turned to see his parents flying towards them, his heart filled with hope. Vlad snarled before firing off pink ecto-beams. They dodged them easily but Vlad didn't take notice, as he turned and ran over to grab the Sceptre which was still floating.

Daniel saw this and he wiped the tears from his eyes. With a renewed resolve he faced the twisted Fruit Loop his sapphire eyes filled with determination.

"Lee…. leel" Daniel gasped his windpipe still sore from it's recent trauma.

Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as he saw Vlad grabbing the Sceptre staff and pointing it at his parents. A low whine echoed before a white hot beam shot out from the staff's tip.

"NO!" Daniel gasped trying to get up but his body wasn't cooperating. He saw his parents being swallowed by the white hot light, he could hear their painful screams as powerful energies tore them apart.

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, grief overwhelmed him. Their screaming seared into his mind, torturing his heart with painful memories and loss. Through his grief he formed three words, knowing that his parents couldn't die in vain and Vlad couldn't do this to anyone else.

"L-l-l le" he stuttered before raising his voice in frustration, "…LEK ARI FEMAC"

Wind whipped around him but he stayed in place, keeping his eyes shut as white light lit up his eyelids. He clutched his jacket as heat scolded his skin, his ears rang.

Then silence.

Daniel opened his eyes to realise the roaring energies were gone and Vlad stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before realising what had happened.

"NO!" Vlad snarled before turning to Daniel in a twist of rage

In an instant Vlad was upon Daniel with his hand around his throat once again, "WHAT DID YOU DO!"

Daniel gasped.

"YOU STUPID BOY! AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE, AFTER ALL THAT I HAVE WORKED FOR AND THIS…. THIS….!"

Daniel felt the crushing power tighten under Vlad's boiling fury. The ghost's red eyes were glowing with pure hate and killing intent. Fear swamped the young boy as his life flashed before his eyes with the last memory lingering to his parents.

_Perhaps I can join them this time..._

Everything faded to black.

* * *

_**Nhs Ba**_

Danny opened his eyes seeing green trendils of cloud that spiraled unnaturally in the black sky.

_Strange clouds, they're almost peaceful…_

_Huh? Wait clouds don't do that!_

All at once Danny's memories came back to him with a sense of fear and urgency. He sat up and instantly saw his friends and sister sprawled on the ground nearby. Fear drove him to his feet and he raced over to find that they were all ok. He looked around but no Jackal or enemy in sight. Relief flooded him and his body's adrenaline slowly dwindled away. On closer inspection they didn't have a scratch on them, as if they just had fallen asleep. He then realised how injured he was and came to realisation that he was perfectly fine. He inspected himself and found his grazes were gone and that nothing ached, he reached inside himself to find power humming at his core ready to be summoned. While attuned to his sixth sense he felt a powerful presence vibrating nearby.

_Anubis, _He surmised as he got to his feet

He looked to the direction where he had felt the god's presence and all he saw was shrubbery and trees, meaning they had to do a bit of trekking. He decided to rouse his friends from their slumber, each one grumbling wearily getting their bearings as he did.

"What happened?" Sam asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes

"We survived!" Tucker cheered getting up, "I don't care how but we did!"

"Look!' Jazz said pointing out to the environment around them, "It's normal again!"

Four pairs of eyes stared at the air all around them to confirm that the realm was back to normal.

"Does that mean we won?" Tucker asked

"Let's find out. Anubis is over that way" Danny murmured speaking for the first time since he woke up

Danny pointed to the direction where he could feel the Ancient Egyptian's power. Without waiting for any answer from his friends he headed off. He knew his friends will follow all curious as to what had happened. They waded through the flora and being real world humans they easily phased through the ghostly vegetation. Danny glanced to his friends seeing their curious and worried expressions. He was thinking along the same lines as they were. They all wanted to know what had happened to Daniel, to Vlad and how the Ghost Zone returned to normal. Danny feared for his foster brother and hoped he was ok.

Suddenly the air was thick with supernatural power as they came upon a clearing. Before them stood a large humanoid Jackal, it's black fur glistened amongst the ghostly aura of the surrounding vegetation.

"Anubis" Danny gasped instantly recognising the god

Anubis turned his head his gold coloured eyes, were full of power pierced through his soul. Danny instinctively froze as did his friends as they felt the very presence of the god before them. The god's eye's softened to a kinder expression but was full of authority. His ears stood proud as his muscular body adorned the Ancient Egyptian jewellery and clothing. It was like he had just come out from a text book or a statue that had come to life.

_**Welcome Ba.**_

His voice echoed in each of their minds and his low tones vibrated in their chest.

_**Do not fear for your friend. He is well.**_

Danny realised who he was referring to.

"Daniel?" he gasped as he looked past Anubis to find his foster brother lying still on the ground. He ran over to him and checked for any injuries. He had a steady pulse and was breathing fine. Then Danny looked up to see another person.

"Vlad" Danny snarled in disgust

Vlad was slouched over on the ground, with a pale complexion and ragged clothing and hair. He was in human form and looked at Danny blankly with hollow eyes. He didn't say anything, he didn't have any vigour, any wit or any sarcastic remarks. It was as if his soul had been crushed from years of torture. It unnerved Danny and he looked towards Anubis for answers.

_**I have removed my power from him**_

An icy hand gripped Danny's heart and he looked at Vlad who had now looked away with such despair.

"What do you mean" Jazz broke the silence

"It means he did to Vlad what he almost did to me" Danny said quietly, "He separated his powers from his soul, except that Vlad is still alive"

"Dude" Tucker breathed

**I called upon the judgement to be made and found his heart heavy. He did not deserve to manifest my power any longer and so his punishment is just!**

They winced at Anubis' anger. Danny felt a pang of pity for Vlad, despite everything. He almost had the same thing happen to him because Anubis could allow the powers to develop when he was a full ghost. It was pain like Danny never had experienced and would hope to never experience ever again. He saw the consequences before him now and when the time comes he wanted to move on to the afterlife without a hitch.

"Mmo-m" a voice croaked below him

Danny smiled down at Daniel as he woke up from his slumber. His friends came around him in quiet concern for Daniel.

"Hey there" Sam smiled hoping to ease Jackson's confusion

"Where am I?"

"The Ghost Zone"

"…Oh…"

Daniel suddenly sat up almost knocking Danny over, "Mom! Dad!"

He looked wildly around only to find his eyes landing on the powerful god before him.

"Erh, Daniel meet Anubis. Anubis, Daniel" Danny injected

"Anubis" Daniel gasped in awe

_**Thank you young one. You released the power of the Sceptre so it may return to me. Your efforts and deeds shall always hold favour with me little mortal.**_

Daniel gasped as the voice spoke into his mind but moved his soul at the same time. He could feel the radiant power flowing out of the being. It was nothing he has ever experienced 's yellow eyes looked away from them briefly before staring right into Daniel's soul.

_**I have safely restored the Spirit Realm and can now govern it properly. All of you have my gratitude on your efforts to restore the realm and come to aid at my request.**_

"So what will happen now?" Danny asked

_**I have no need for your services any longer. You are free to do what you choose. You may call upon me if there is a request I can fulfil as a favour but I may not always answer.**_

"My parents" Daniel spoke up for the first time, "What happened to them… are they…"

Danny, Tucker, Sam and Jazz looked to Daniel with new curiosity. Daniel never mentioned his parents and knew they were deceased since he came to them as an orphan.

**_Their spirits were destroyed by my power when Vladmir used the Sceptre against them. However no soul disappears without consequences, and thus I have returned them to the Spirit Realm once again_.**

Daniel's face was filled with glee, "Where are they?"

"Right here son, trying make an entrance"

Daniel turned to find the two ghosts who were the spirit of his parents. He scrambled up and ran to them. He jumped into their welcoming embrace his battered heart filled with utter joy. He felt like he was eight years old again, running into the arms of his parents after coming home from a long day at work. He buried himself in their warm embrace, so thankful that they were alive in spirit. He thought that they were destroyed, torn apart by the power of the Sceptre. After a while he realised he was sobbing but he didn't care he wanted things to go back the way they were and live a life with his parents, his only family. After a while he was pushed back by his Dad.

"Well son, I hate to say it but we have to leave you, now" his father said in a light tone but his face was grim

"What? Why? We just met, I mean we, I haven't seen you since then and I-" Daniel stuttered as tears threaten to overwhelm him again

"I'm sorry honey, but we have to move on" his mother said sadly

"But you stuck around me all this time, can't you do that any longer?" Daniel argued getting angry

"No son. That was a mistake" his father replied

"A mistake?" Daniel snapped, "A mistake to be with me?"

"No Honey. We…. we were cursed" his mother said hesitantly

"What?" Daniel cried bewildered

"Claire" his father warned

"He was a right to know Mel"

His father faltered and looked away. Daniel looked up in questioning almost afraid of the answer. Daniel felt his friends standing beside him in comfort. Normally he would try to hide all this and his feelings but it didn't matter any more. They've been through something so surreal together that he didn't care if they knew everything about him. He knew he could trust them.

"I recognise the both of you" Danny peered them, "You're the ghosts that were attacking the town including the school but with serious anger issues"

"No wonder they knew your name Danny" Sam commented, "Or rather they were screaming Daniel's name"

Claire sadly nodded, "You see when we died we lingered around the living world, watching over our only son. We wanted to make sure he was going to be ok before we moved on"

"However" Melburn stepped into the conversation, "A few nights afterwards Danny read a passage from my journal, in which I was translating some strange text we found on a dig"

"Amok nah na'tu" Daniel repeated and his Dad nodded

"I didn't realise it but they are binding words Daniel" Melburn said sadly, "They were part of a ritual that was preformed thousands of years ago, however you said them out of context and normally this wouldn't do anything…"

"But since you were missing us so much I think the spell took a whole new meaning with your feelings" his mother continued

"Because you wanted us to be with you again so badly and repeated the spell several times it actually bound our forms to you" his father gave a shaky chuckle, "I didn't even think that was possible"

"You mean I bound you to me as ghosts?" Daniel gaped

"Not only that but we were compelled to protect you" his mother said sadly, "At first it was ok. We could sense if you were in trouble, but soon it became out of control. Over the years, the feelings of protecting you were so strong we couldn't help ourselves"

"And we began attacking innocent people in blind rage"

"People who had hurt your feelings or you had disagreements with"

"Is that why you were around attacking Danny?" Sam asked

Claire nodded sadly, "He and Daniel had a fight and I couldn't help myself. I felt so much rage that I had to kill him"

Danny was surprised at this whole revelation and was reminded of Freakshow's ghost controlling staff. Perhaps it derived from the same magic or power.

"The worst thing was we knew what happening but we couldn't do anything about it" Melburn admitted, "We were responsible for your consistent placement in different homes since we kept scaring and attacking people"

Daniel shook his head trying to take all that information in, _This is all my fault… if I hadn't… this would never…._

"Don't blame yourself" Claire saw the regret and guilt in her son's sapphire eyes, "This was a series of unfortunate consequences. We love you so much my son"

"But I caused all this! I stopped you from moving on! I made you suffer..." Danie's voice broke with emotion

"But we saw how much you have grown" his mother said proudly, "How much of a man you have become. You have saved this realm and us and we couldn't be more proud"

"Mom…"

_**It is time**_

Everyone jumped at the sudden echoic voice of the god. They almost forgot he there was with them.

"We have to go now son"

"Wait!" Daniel cried before turning to the god, "You brought them back, can't you bring them back to life?"

Danny stiffened, he knew Anubis was capable of this since he was resurrected himself.

_**I cannot**_

"Why?" Daniel snapped, "If you can bring them back here you can resurrect them!"

_**I maintain the balance between life and death, young one. It was time for your parents to move on and take their place in the afterlife. I returned their souls to the Spirit Realm because a missing spirit could spell consequences that will disrupt the balance. To resurrect them to flesh will disrupt the balance.**_

"Then why did you resurrect me?" Danny asked hoping to sway things in Daniel's favour, "If it's against the 'balance' then I shouldn't be here either!"

**_I have made the exception for you ba, but not without consequences_.**

"What kind of consequences?" Sam asked

The being seemed to hesitate as it did not reply right away.

_**When your life is forfeit you join in the afterlife. However if someone returns from the afterlife then another soul needs to take that souls place.**_

"What? You traded my soul for someone else's?" Danny exclaimed in shock

_**I did not. Instead I chose a future for you. I exchanged your fate for your life. In doing so I minimised the damage done to the balance. It was a necessary consequence as I needed my power restored to the realm.**_

Danny swallowed, _Fate? Does that mean will I become like my future self… and there is nothing I can do about it?_

Danny was suddenly filled with dread and he turned to his friends who returned some comfort but not much. Anubis turned to Daniel.

_**I am sorry young one but it is time for your parents to go.**_

Melburn Jackson rubbed his son's hair, "Take care. Remember we are always proud of you"

"We always believe in you" Claire Jackson teared up

Daniel hugged them for the last time, a final embrace. He never wanted to let go, but finally he moved away as Anubis stepped forward. He waved his Sceptre and his parents disappeared. He could no longer feel their presence and he wept at the emptiness in his heart. Sam went over to comfort him.

Danny felt hurt by the unfairness of everything. He turned to the powerful being, "When were you going to tell me this?"

Anubis didn't say anything he's form was still as a statue, however his golden eyes stared down at Danny seeing the child's anger.

_**I am sorry young one. What done is done. Your fate is sealed.**_

Danny frowned and shook his head, "I help you out and this is what I get? Come on guys lets go"

Suddenly the Anubis presence overwhelmed them as anger crackled like an electrical pulse in the air.

_**You dare speak to me with such insolence mortal? Be grateful that you are living with my powers at all. If you do not wish to live I can take you life away and return you to the folds of life and death where you are meant to belong. This will undo what I have done and restore the balance properly. I am offering you this chance, what do you choose?**_

Danny gasped trying to quash the fear that threatened to engulf him. He squeezed his eyes shut, " T-t-to live!"

With that the air returned to a calm authority. His heart thudded making a mental note _not_ to piss the god off.

_**Wise choice.**_

They stared at the god, his white teeth glistening in a toothy smile.

_**May Ra shine his blessings upon you.**_

With that they all disappeared in a flash of white light.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Jack O'Neill stretched his arms out feeling his elbow pop. He winced knowing it was because he was in the same seating position for a prolonged period. He looked over to his second in command Samantha Carter who was seated beside him. Her short cropped blond hair was neatly combed as she dressed in a warm white jumper, blue slacks and off-white sneakers. She reached over and grabbed her half filled glass and took a sip, watching the rolling credits.

He shifted in the old but comfortable couch, his own attire mirrored Sam's casualness with a light blue shirt, jeans brown boots. He glanced over to former first prime, Teal'c, who kept his expressions to a minimum but on this occasion was smiling a little. He was pleased with the movie they had just watched. He was out of the regulation BDUs that he often wore at the base, and was in a grey jumper, black trousers and shoes. His grey beanie that he used to cover his golden tattoo in public, lay beside him.

"You know, this is the only movie series I enjoy as much as the books" Sam commented between chewing on the popcorn

"I concur" Teal'c agreed, "But I also enjoyed Lord of the Rings books and movies equally"

"I think I fell asleep in the second Lord of the Rings" Sam admitted

"Well you kids maybe interested in this stuff but the Wizard of Oz was more my thing" Jack replied knowing he had missed the boat on the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. He watched the movies with his team and he had to admit, he did enjoy them but it wasn't his cup of tea

They were currently enjoying a team movie night at Daniel's place. His place was a sizable loft covered with white walls, and dated decor. Jack knew Daniel didn't care too much about how it looked, but he did take care of what was displayed. Photos of himself, of others as well as SG-1. Then there were pictures and various rocks ("Artefacts, Jack" as Daniel often corrected him) that littered the walls and shelves and Jack always find himself studying them from afar. Danny's office at the base was far more cluttered but here it seemed he kept the more prized or nicer looking things.

Thinking about their current host Jack looked around to find Daniel but he wasn't about.

"Where's Danny?"

Sam shrugged. They were in Daniel's house this movie night so she wasn't too worried if he had wandered off somewhere. He had every right to.

"Geeze Jack, just taking a whiz" Daniel muttered appearing from the hallway, "Do you want to hold my hand next time?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply when the doorbell rung. Daniel frowned, his attention was now focused on the unexpected intrusion. Jack immediately took in his expression and became more alert. His team seemed to respond. _Always alert at sudden situations_, Jack thought proudly. Teal'c instantly reached for a beanie and slipped it on, covering his gold symbol of Apophis.

Daniel hadn't been expecting anyone this time of night. No one came to his home. He he no living blood family and his friends were usually from work. Guarded and knowing his friends were behind him if something bad were to happen, he opened the door.

At the door way he saw a tall and lean man in his early 30s with short black hair and bright icy blue eyes. He was pale as if hadn't seen the sun in years, he was dressed in a black shirt and white hoodie with baggy dark jeans and red sneakers. Their eyes met, locked into a searching stare and a bolt of recognition struck through him.

"Danny?" he gasped his eyes wide with surprise.

"The one and only!" the man's face beamed, "Nice hair cut, although the glasses are still the same"

"Oh my G-w-what are you doing here? How did you get here?" Daniel gaped not quite believing the person before him

"I'm here to see you and I got here by plane" the raven haired man replied smirking at Daniel's stunned reaction

Jack peered over to see the fuss was with Sam and Teal'c in his wake. They were curious as to who this new person was. Danny didn't keep many contacts from his past since joining the program.

"Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night or you gonna let me in?" the man quipped

Daniel blinked and held an embarrassed look. He stepped aside, "Sorry! Come in"

Jackson stepped aside allowing Danny to step inside and closed the door behind him. Danny stood opposite to Daniel's friends as they now moved away from the couch and stood with Daniel at the door.

"Oh Jack, Sam, T-erh Murray, meet Daniel Fenton. Danny meet Jack, Sam and Murray" Daniel introduced them all pointing each person in turn

Jack shook the man's hand as he murmured a polite greeting, whilst Sam smiled and gave a handshake and Teal'c bowed his head. Jack took note how muscular the man was. He looked well trained and carried himself with an air of confidence. Jack had a feeling the guy could handle himself in a fight, but he was defiantly not military. Daniel turned to his team-mates.

"Danny's family took me in when I was fourteen" Daniel briefly explained, "He's my foster brother"

"Two Danny's!" Jack quipped hoping to break the ice, "It's hard enough keeping track of one!"

The raven-haired man laughed heartily and the ice was shattered, "My father said the same thing"

As Daniel asked Danny if he wanted to drink, Jack took note that Daniel never mentioned anything from his childhood. Only brief and unwanted glimpses gave him some insight to Daniel's tragic beginnings and his dysfunctional family and life but Daniel had never told them anything. Jack never approached the subject because he saw how much Daniel closed up and withdrew into himself when his past was brought up. So when this guy shows up and out of the blue Jack's curiosity was standing attention. It was a rare opportunity to peak into Daniel's past.

_Curiouser and curiouser_ he chided to himself.

Daniel ushered them all to sit down.

"I don't mean to intrude, I can come by later if you are busy" Danny felt a bit out of place. He had only intended to surprise his long lost foster brother.

"You are not intruding at all Daniel Fenton" Teal'c interjected

Danny looked at him strangely. Teal'c word choice and full address of someone's name had that effect on people that didn't know him.

"Please call me Danny" Danny grimaced, "My mom calls me Daniel when I get into trouble"

Jack chuckled knowing his mother did the same thing when he was growing up, "What he means is that we don't bite"

"We just finished watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" Sam added hoping to quell the visitor's uneasiness

Jack knew that they were all as curious as he was about this stranger from Daniel's past and he saw Daniel shifting uncomfortably. Jack smiled, _ You have to let us know sooner of later Danny boy_

Danny sank in the couch next to Jack and Daniel handed him a beer before sitting down in the armchair beside him.

"So what happened?" Daniel asked wondering why this was happening now.

Danny swallowed looking around Daniel's friends, their with curious expressions. He hadn't seen Daniel in years due to circumstances out of his control. It was hardly the time and place to explain why he hadn't contacted Daniel since his theory about Ancient Egyptians.

"A lot of things" Danny replied carefully, "I wanted to see how you were"

"You came all the way from Amity?"

"Ok so I was in the neighbourhood..."

"And you knew where to find me?" Daniel raised an eyebrow

Danny snorted, "Please, look who you are talking to here"

They both looked at each other. Daniel grinned with secret understanding and replied, "Of course I should've known"

Jack saw that look that they shared, as if they had secret knowledge about something. His curiosity skyrocketed.

"Are you an expert tracker Danny Fenton?" Teal'c asked noticing the exchange

Jack smiled, _Trust Teal'c to point out the obvious! _Recently he was coaching Teal'c in making small talk. Sometime his silent presence intimidated people.

"Nah, I just have a knack of finding people" Danny smiled, "Usually people I like"

"Alright don't avoid the subject, why are you here?" Daniel asked

"Well I thought to tell you the good news in person" Danny grinned

"Which is...?"

"I'm finally an Astronaut"

Jack blinked at the news. He saw Daniel's expression turn from confusion to happiness, "That is great news!" Daniel exclaimed, "I'm so happy for you, since you've always wanted to be one"

Fenton grinned, "I'm tying up a few things at NORAD tomorrow and then I head off to NASA. I thought to drop by and see how you are doing. I know it's but sudden but better now than never…"

Jack glanced over to see Sam's reaction since she also aimed at a top job in NASA but ended up doing so much more with the Stargate Program. She kept her face neutral but had a knowing look in her eyes. If this Fenton kid proved himself as a good scientist he wouldn't be surprised if he saw him working on the Stargate Program. Not to mention Daniel would put in a good word for him.

"Hows Sam and Tucker?" Daniel asked

"Good. Tucker is still working at Fentec, you know how he loves technology" Danny smiled before his face fell a little, "Sam, she's good. Still working in DC. I visit her from time to time"

Daniel nodded, he knew Danny and Sam had a falling out. They finally made it official boyfriend and girlfriend not long after the Anubis Incident (something they all referred to it as), however after he moved away for college he wasn't too sure what had happened. Danny would clam up each time and refused to tell him what had happened between him and Sam... Sam was the same but she would deflect the conversation. Tucker wisely stayed out of it. Daniel would have thought they would be a couple with kids with the apple pie life by now. Anubis had once said that he had set Danny's fate and what ever it was it was meant to be.

"So tell us more about your self Danny. Daniel never mentions anything about a foster family" Jack stated changing the subject.

Daniel frowned at Jack but Danny seemed not to mind Jack's bluntness.

"I'm just your average person trying to live the American Dream" Danny shrugged, "Although I am not surprised Daniel never talked to you about me or my family. Our family is a bit unconventional. When he first came along he hardly talked at all and was all moody and angry. Actually we got off to a bad start and we fought a lot"

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise and so did the rest of his team-mates. Daniel having anger issues seems so foreign now. He was the most nicest person you could ever meet.

Daniel shifted uncomfortably regretting this surprise visit. Danny grinned and patted his foster brother on his shoulder, "But in the end we became friends. My parents paid for a better education, since he was too smart for regular school. He got a scholarship for college from what I remember and I didn't see you again for a while"

"I think you missed my favourite colour and my favourite food in there" Daniel retorted

"And snarky as ever" Danny's grin widened. He looked around to the three friends and they were in still in surprise, just taking the information in.

Danny wasn't born yesterday, he could feel Jackson's unease and his friend's questioning eyes. He thought Daniel would have told them a little bit about their family, just leaving all the ghostly things out and one psychopath in particular. Daniel must've told them nothing to be this attentive and judging by Daniel's reaction he wasn't enjoying his past digging either. Oh the irony.

"So what are you doing now?" Danny asked taking a swig of beer

"Just a civilian consultant to the military" Daniel gave the cover story instantly without thought

"I thought field work was more your thing" Danny frowned, knowing how excited Daniel had got one time when he was off to a dig site. He was basically born on a dig site.

Daniel shrugged, hoping to avoid the subject. Danny eyed his foster brother, as the well rehearsed and quickly dished out job description sounded awfully like a cover story. He looked around at Jackson's friends and going by first impressions and instincts he knew that his friends weren't civilian. According to the location and the poor excuse Daniel made, they most likely worked at Cheyenne Mountain since he knew there was a military operation going on (in connection to NORAD). Daniel didn't make friends easy and any friends he'd made were usually co-workers, so if he was a consultant to the military, then he would have military friends. He didn't know what they did or why they need an archaeologist to work under a mountain but he knew if he wanted to he could find out himself.

Then again if it was military central and top secret, he didn't want to stick his nose in where it didn't belong. He didn't need GIW to have a reason to come back into operation again.

Jack watched Danny's facial expressions on how he assessed Daniel's work situation and looked to them in observation. Jack was going to back Danny boy up but the kid seemed to accept his foster brother's cover story and didn't bring it up again. Jack relaxed a little but the boy was way too observant, must be a scientist thing.

Danny moved forward to grab some popcorn from the table and said in a nonchalant tone, "Well now I know what you do, I will open up question time for your friends here. I can see they are dying to know who I am, this mystery person from your past"

He looked up to see Daniel sink in his chair clearly uncomfortable with talking about himself or his past. He saw that Sam had the decency to look away in embarrassment of her curiosity but Jack eyes lit up like an excited puppy. Murray was clearly interested but held a lot more restraint over his facial expressions. Interesting….

Danny smirked clearly having their attention and making his foster brother uncomfortable… after all that was his job as a brother. Making his brother's life as difficult or as embarrassing as it can be. He did that to his big sister, and now he was doing it to his brother.

"Ok then mystery man, why don't you start from the beginning" Jack couldn't contain his curiosity any longer, "How did you meet Danny boy here"

"Oh so they're calling you Danny now" Fenton shot a smile to Daniel who held an unreadable expression, in which the group noticed but couldn't determine if this was good or not, "Erh, as you know" Fenton moved on quickly as he didn't want to make things too uncomfortable for his foster brother, "My name is Daniel Fenton but everyone calls me Danny. We met when my parents decided to make room for one more person in our family and decided to foster a child. To be honest I wasn't too thrilled but I guess he grew on me"

Jack snorted. Danny continued hoping his friends new about his social service system bounce around, "I suppose we were the final family to take him in. To be honest it was tough going but he settled in quickly, despite my family's weirdness"

"And what did your parents do for a living?" Sam asked

"They were inventors" Danny replied, "They sold tech, mainly to DALV Inc before it was shut down. Then they started their own tech company called Fentec"

"You're the heir of Fentec?" Sam spluttered almost choking on her beer

Jack quirked up an eyebrow before Sam composed herself. Danny quietly chuckled.

"Sorry" she offered. "It's just Fentec has the most advanced technology on Earth. They've made major breakthroughs in engineering and devices"

"How come I never heard of them before?" Jack asked frowning

"They're a private company" Danny supplied, "I think at the moment the government has asked them to engineer some tech but it's top secret so I don't know anything about it.

Jack and Sam shared a look. Their instincts told them that Fentec was probably the company at Area 51, helping developing technology to work with Goa'uld tech that they manage to salvage. Probably the driving force to make the glider hybrids. Sam would look it up at work tomorrow. The information was readily available with her clearance but it never occurred to her to look up who was behind the reverse engineering. She always looked at the individual scientists and not the organisation.

Danny smirked. He knew what tech his family was working on since he is part of the company, he had a right to know. He just can't go off and tell everyone he meets. The idea of alien tech was a bit strange, however his family excelled in the strange. Danny glanced over to Daniel, his expression was curious but thoughtful.

"And Daniel kept it a secret from you all this time?" Danny decided to turn the attention back to Daniel, who clearly didn't like to be centre of attention when it was personal

"I was busy" Daniel said defensively

"Playing with rocks" Jack quipped

"Artefacts" Daniel corrected

Jack and Daniel started up on their light banter. Danny took another sip of beer quietly observing Daniel and his interactions with his friends. Sam broke into Jack and Daniel's discussion with her own opinion. He noticed that Murray kept the same expression but upon closer observation his eyes were bright and his mouth and eyebrows showed hints of emotions that danced underneath.

He observed that Sam was a passionate person who had the military training ingrained into her so she was reserved if needed. Here in the privacy of Daniel's home she was just as passionate as he had seen Daniel in one of his discussions. He wouldn't put it past her that she was a tough woman and considering her interest on his background he was sure she could hold her own against Tucker's brilliance with tech.

He could see that Jack was like a father to them all. He cared for them and treated them like his children at times. Considering how Sam acted around him he was a military leader, he had yet to determine his rank but it was somewhere quite high if he considered how he carried himself and how he subtly commanded his friends-no team. Danny saw all the non-verbal communication and he knew Daniel was more than just a consultant. He was part of something bigger.

They all seemed closer than friends, more like family as if they had gone to hell and back. He regretted not having a lot contact with Daniel after he left for college but his own path took such a drastic turn he had to stay out of contact. He was there for Daniel on numerous occasions, even when he was laughed out of his academic community for his wild ideas. After the storms were weathered and he was on his way to getting into NASA, Daniel disappeared. Danny couldn't find him even with his ghost powers and he found no sign of him for about a year. It was as if he had fell off the face of the planet.

Since Daniel's return he wanted to visit but this visit was the first time in a long time that he could come here physically. He couldn't risk using his ghost powers so openly and give a reason the the GIW to reform. He really wanted to catch up with Daniel and know what was going on, but tonight with his friends was not the place.

Danny took another sip of beer.

"So Danny, what are your hobbies?" Jack asked when silence resumed again

Danny smirked, "Ever heard of a game called Doomed?"

* * *

**The End**

Yaaaay! I finally finished! Whoooo!

Anywho, thank you for reading and putting up with my crappy updating! I really enjoyed writing this. Doing a different perspective on Daniel and his upbringing was a challenge but refreshing. Placing him in Danny's world was a bit hard and the introduction of Anubis hopefully carried the Stargate theme of Egyptology.

On the writing side, I tried to pay more attention on how I was writing as I tend to mix my tenses a lot. I often write these pieces late at night and usually I write what ever comes to mind ^_^;

Let me know what you think. Feedback is really appreciated.


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